The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Plastics maker goes solar to lower footprint
Farrel Pomini has gone solar. The Ansoniabased plastic manufacturer recently partnered with EnterSolar, a national solar panel provider, to complete a 390kilowatt installation at its headquarters at 1 Farrel Blvd.
“As a corporate citizen, we definitively feel that we have an obligation to do the things we can to help the environment,” said Paul Zepp, Farrel Pomini site director. “At the same time, the economics make a lot of sense with the federal tax credit and the utility companies providing some financial assistance as well.”
Farrel Pomini designs and makes machines used in the plastic manufacturing industry. The company moved to the Fountain Lake Commerce Park in 2016 to help reduce operating costs, among other things.
Zepp said his company is set to receive a 30 percent tax credit because of the solar panels.
EnterSolar has been developing solar systems in Connecticut for more than a decade. The New Yorkbased company works with corporate enterprises to deliver solar energy projects that EnterSolar touts as longterm returns on investment.
The $500,000 project has been operating since September and is expected to produce 475,505 kilowatts annually at the 60,000squarefoot facility overlooking the city. The power output will account for 63 percent of the electricity usage at the facility, according a press release.
The solar energy output is also supposed to allow the company to bring in revenue and save money on its utility bill.
According to Zepp, the project will also provide environmental benefits for the city. The panel installation is expected to save an equivalent of more than 23,000 gallons of gas annually, avoiding roughly 464,000 pounds of carbon dioxide put in the air in the same period
“We are always looking for ways to offset our carbon footprint and this project was a nobrainer,” Zepp said. “While we work with many of our customers in the polymer processing industry on their sustainability and recycling projects, it was now our turn to do the same with our operations.”
Farrel Pomini used several incentives for the solar project, including Connecticut’s ZeroEmission Renewable Energy Credit solar incentive program, which offers fixed prices for all the environmental attributes produced during the project’s initial 15 years.
Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti commended Farrel Pomini for the project in a news release, calling it a “forwardlooking solution to the energy problems manufacturers face in Connecticut and across the country.”