Florida Crystals expands renewable energy production to power Florida’s only rice mill
In Florida, the state’s only rice mill, owned by Florida Crystals Corporation in western Palm Beach County, said it is now converting sunlight to renewable energy for its operations via its 900-panel solar array and the first Tesla Megapack battery in operation in the state of Florida.
Andy Sauber, Director of Sustainability at Florida Crystals Corporation said: “The majority of the power for our operations already comes from the sun because our main fuel source is our own sugarcane fiber, which grows by converting and storing energy from sunlight. This new investment at our rice mill is literally making us even more solar-powered than we already are, but instead of storing the energy in our plants, we are utilizing a Tesla Megapack battery.”
The solar panels provide power to the rice mill and charge the battery during the day, and the battery then supplies power to the rice mill after dark, the company said.
This first phase of the solar project powers one of the rice mill’s two electrical meters and will supply approximately 20% of the total energy needs. The system is estimated to reduce carbon by 250 tons annually.
