GreenVolts has announced a strategic partnership with Independent Solar Developers (ISD), a turnkey solar system developer, owner, and operator that specializes in providing solar energy solutions for Southern California agricultural applications.

Using solar energy for agriculture is a large and untapped opportunity. In California alone, agricultural businesses require over 2,000 MW of capacity and use more than 10 TWh annually. These businesses have plenty of land and sun, ideal for solar energy, and are very interested in lowering their cost of electricity, which can exceed 20 percent of production costs.

GreenVolts and ISD have worked closely together to develop a solution that provides long term, economical electricity supply along with a unique set of land use, project planning, installation, and operational benefits tailored to this market. ISD can also provide financing, thereby overcoming the primary barrier for most projects.

With their first project installed and operating successfully, and others in progress, they are delivering tailored solutions for irrigation, cattle, food processing, and other agricultural applications.

"I cannot overemphasize the advantage that a complete system from one supplier with a single, overall, 20-year warranty presents to an owner who is considering solar energy," said Peter Molloy, Principal, Independent Solar Developers.

"GreenVolts is high performance, rugged, and an overall excellent fit for agricultural applications."

GreenVolts concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems are the most efficient solar technology available for hot, sunny environments such as the Southwest U.S. agricultural areas.

The modular design can be configured for distributed loads, such as irrigation pumps located on different parcels of land, or scaled up to meet higher demand, such as refrigeration in the processing of vegetables. ISIS, the energy management software included with the system, allows remote monitoring and management of all the systems from anywhere on the Internet.

"ISD has established themselves as a total solution partner to their customers, going beyond just solar. They offer energy analysis, system audits that include usage and load patterns, financing, and operations and maintenance, and will do everything possible to reduce the cost of energy," said David Gudmundson, president and CEO of GreenVolts.

"Our installation for irrigation in Coachella Valley went well, and we already have projects for several different applications underway."