This time of year, when faith, family and food take center stage around Thanksgiving and other winter holidays, consumers are on the receiving end of America’s farming traditions. Throughout the years, Solar Alliance has had the privilege of providing electric-bill-reducing solar systems for small family farms, food processors and other rural small businesses.
These are a few of the rural small businesses in Tennessee and Kentucky that are saving with solar while feeding America:
- Wampler’s Farm Sausage in Lenoir City is a fourth-generation, family-owned and operated food processor that supplies meat products for grocery stores far and wide. It was an early adopter of solar technology in the East Tennessee area.
- Buck Creek Farm in Livermore, Kentucky, is curbing an otherwise large electrical expense for its poultry houses with a ground-mounted solar system on the farm.
- Lick Skillet Farm in New Market raises pastured heritage pork, chicken, eggs and turkeys for holiday meals as well as grass-finished beef and lamb. Environmental stewardship practices are a priority for the family.
You can see a glimpse of how each of these businesses have used solar and the scale of their systems here.
In each of these cases, the Rural Energy for America Program through the United States Department of Agriculture offered an extra boost through a grant to cover a portion of the solar project expenses. You can learn more about how the program works here at this federal government website. Currently, qualifying projects like solar are eligible for a grant covering 50% of the project.
Curbing utility bill costs through renewable energy is just one way for these types of businesses to continue providing the food we can all be thankful for.
Anne Brock is marketing coordinator for SolarAlliance.com which offers start-to-finish solar project management, energy evaluations and grant writing for REAP solar projects. She can be reached at: 865-221-8349 or abrock@solaralliance.com