Solar Spotlight: Dairy-Mix, Inc. Finds a Sweet Deal With Solar

SMA inverters are powering the 201.75 kW rooftop solar array installed by Advanced Green Technologies and can supply up to 25 percent of the Dairy-Mix processing plant’s energy needs.

Dairy-Mix is the largest ice cream mix manufacturer in the state of Florida. With state-of-the-art equipment, quality assurance labs and storage coolers, this family-owned and -operated company use a lot of energy at its St. Petersburg facility, and the company decided it was their socioeconomic duty to reduce its carbon footprint by going solar.

Since moving to their current location in 1958, Dairy-Mix has expanded four times.  They completed the construction of their last building in 1999, and the inconsistencies in roof designs presented significant obstacles for installing a solar array.

For Dairy-Mix to achieve the most significant long-term benefits, they decided to install a new cool roofing membrane and integrate the solar array into the project.  The tricky part?  As an ice cream mix business, it was critical for the coolers to remain on throughout the project.

Advanced Green Technologies (AGT) was ready for the challenge; they completed the new roof and solar-array projects without safety issues or disrupting operations at the facility.

For this project, AGT chose to use 538 LG 375W modules with three SMA CORE1 inverters and one Sunny Tripower TL-US.

“We chose SMA products for their reliability, data monitoring capacity and rooftop friendly design as well as the company’s strength,” said Clint Sockman, vice president of Advanced Roofing and Advanced Green Technologies.

The Dairy-Mix facility now has cooler ambient temperatures inside of the building while producing about 320,470kwh per year.