Cargill installs solar panels at Fresno beef plant
Cargill and TEVA Energy LLC, have teamed up to install the largest solar energy system at a meat processing facility in California. Cargill’s Fresno beef processing plant will use solar energy to pre-heat water used throughout the plant for food safety and sanitation purposes, reducing its fossil fuel energy requirements, thereby reducing the facility’s environmental footprint. The plant already captures nearly 30 percent of its natural gas requirements from methane gathered through anaerobic digestion at its onsite water treatment ponds. The methane is currently used to heat water for the plant’s food safety and sanitation purposes.
“The addition of solar energy to preheat boiler water complements our methane gas recovery and use, which reduces our dependence on natural gas by almost 30 percent and helps us move our Fresno beef processing facility closer to being truly sustainable through our incorporation of additional renewable energy sources,” said John Niemann, Cargill vice president and general manager at Fresno. “We are continuously exploring options and taking actions that reinforce our focus on environmental stewardship and resource conservation, while serving our customers and the consuming public, and being a good corporate neighbor.”