We are excited to announce the completion of our latest sustainability initiative: Kickapoo Coffee Roasters is now solar powered! A few weeks ago, we finished installing an 80 panel, 25-Kilowatt solar array that will provide all of our electrical needs. We flipped the switch and the sun’s rays turned to electricity — making us one of the first on-site, solar-powered roasteries in the entire world. Our vintage Probat roaster still uses gas (when you’re 82 years old, you get what you want), but every drop of electricity we use comes from the sun, which means less fossil fuels burned and more responsibly sourced, sustainably roasted coffee.
For us, switching to solar power just made sense, and we encourage other businesses to explore resources available to make solar power possible for them as well. We were able to cover 21% of the cost of this project through a Focus on Energy grant, 25% of the cost was covered by a USDA REAP grant and there is also 33% Federal tax credit available for renewable energy systems. The remainder of the project costs were funded by local community investors, who will be repaid based on energy cost savings until the system is paid off. All of this was made possible with the help of Ethos Renewable Power and VEDA (Vernon Economic Development Association) who provided support writing grants, sourcing solar panels and facilitating installation. We’d love to see solar energy as the norm not the exception.
Cheers and happy brewing!
More information about this project can be found below:
http://www.news8000.com/news/local-companies-reduce-carbon-footprint-through-federal-grants/34539072