Top national Apple supplier welcomes AllSun solar trackers

Small Dog Electronics, one of the largest Apple suppliers in the United States, has installed ten AllSun Trackers at their company headquarters.

The 42kW installation outside the company’s Waitsfield, Vt office will make 58,800 kWh/year, providing the power needed to run their retail store in South Burlington, Vt as well as half of the power for the company’s Waitsfield headquarters. The new locally manufactured solar trackers are the latest in a series of investments made by Small Dog Electronics toward a goal of achieving net zero usage of non-renewable energy.

Small Dog’s solar farm includes ten solar trackers manufactured by AllEarth Renewables of Williston, which use innovative GPS and wireless technology to follow the sun throughout the day to boost solar energy production by up to 45 percent over roof-top installations.  The ground-mounted solar systems are designed for homes, businesses, non-profits, and commercial-scale installations.

A single 4.2 kW solar tracker will produce enough to power the majority of an average home. 

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin was on hand for a cord cutting ceremony and was joined by Hapy Mayer, COO and CFO of Small Dog Electronics, Andrew Savage of AllEarth Renewables, Nik Ponzio of Building Energy, and Richard Travers, CEO of Freeaire Corporation.

An iPhone was recently used by Governor Shumlin to officially commission the largest solar tracker farm of its kind in North America, a 2.2 MW farm that consisted of 382 AllSun Trackers.

“We chose to use solar electricity because, of all the power sources, it is by far the cleanest and most neutral,” says Don Mayer, CEO at Small Dog Electronics. “This solar farm will greatly help us reduce our carbon footprint, which is an integral part of our mission at Small Dog.”

“It’s great to see an innovative, successful socially responsible company like Small Dog adopting solar,” said David Blittersdorf, CEO of AllEarth Renewables.   “With their wireless and GPS technologies, our solar trackers feel a perfect fit for this great company, which is so immersed in the cutting-edge innovations Apple gives the public every day.”

Building Energy, a locally-owned contracting company with 32 full-time employees, is the regional installer of the AllSun Tracker. 

“We are very excited to have partnered with AllEarth Renewables to offer installations of their AllSun trackers. There are no other trackers that can rival the sophistication of these units,” said Nik Ponzio, solar engineer and senior manager at Building Energy.

Additional sustainability upgrades at Small Dog include a Vermont-engineered and manufactured Freeaire cooling system in its server rooms and LED lighting installed in all locations.

The AllSun Tracker was selected as a top-10 green product for 2012 by BuildingGreen. 

AllEarth Renewables, named Vermont’s fastest growing company in 2010 and 2011, employs 24 full-time staff and five seasonal staff, and has designed, manufactured, and installed over 900 complete grid-connected solar tracker systems.  Blittersdorf, AllEarth Renewables CEO, was recently listed as one of “America's Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs of 2011” by Business Week.