Yakima Chief Hops (YCH) in the US has installed the largest rooftop solar photovoltaic system in the state of Washington.
YCH’s solar array spans across six buildings and consists of 3706 PV panels and will produce 1.4m kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.
The hops supplier will be able to meet 15% of its entire annual electricity demand and offset annual emissions by 1000 metric tonnes, with the installation.
YCH, headquartered in Yakima, in Washington, is a 100% farmer-owned hop supplier to the brewing industry.
The site is surrounded by hop fields of local family farms and YCH has multiple facilities across the valley.
The company decided to capitalise on the longer days unique to the Pacific Northwest by using its buildings to host its own solar project.
YCH corporate social responsibility coordinator Levi Wyatt said: “At YCH, we aim to make more of an impact by making less of one.
“Our operations utilise a significant amount of energy and we are committed to finding ways to lessen our dependency on fossil fuels and finite resources. We also believe in using our business to inspire and influence environmental solutions.”
YCH partnered with Ellensburg Solar to complete the installation of the solar array. The first panel was installed back in 2016.
To date, the company said it has invested more than $2m in renewable energy as part of efforts to achieve “energy independence”.
Additionally, YCH teamed up with local energy suppliers Benton REA and Pacific Power & Light to conduct an energy management assessment and will begin implementing 1.2m kwh in energy savings identified in the assessment.