Pearl Crop Portfolio Case Study

San Joaquin County

Pearl Crop Linden – 232 kWdc, Operational 2024

Pearl Crop Ripon  – 670 kWdc, Operational 2025

Pearl Crop Stockton – 1.03 MWdc, Operational 2025

Project: Pearl Crop, a family-owned food processing business with high energy consumption needs, recognized an opportunity to meet sustainability goals while achieving over $300,000 in annual operational cost savings with renewable energy. The portfolio entailed eleven roofs across three locations.

Challenges

• Multiple commercial and industrial (C&I)-scale solar PV rooftop installations

• Varying rooftop design parameters

• Different weight-bearing capacities per site

• No existing as-built plans are available for the buildings

Delivering onsite power at each location brought unique challenges. Each rooftop had unique design parameters and weight-bearing capacities and it was critical that the proposed equipment layout not exceed the structural load limits of each building.

Solutions

The engineering team evaluated each building’s load capacity carefully, performing detailed structural analyses during the design phase with the end goal of maximizing energy production while preserving structural integrity.

Because Pearl Crop did not have any as-built documentation, RNA Services brought in a third-party engineer to visit each site, investigate the roof structure, and confirm the location of existing support beams. This additional effort provided the data needed to properly design the systems while protecting the buildings’ structural limits.

In addition, RNA’s design approach allowed Pearl Crop to use its existing switchgear and transformer rather than replacing them. By avoiding an unnecessary upgrade, Pearl Crop saved at least $200,000 in material and services costs, in addition to the long-term operational savings from the project.

Benefits

The biggest site, Stockton, uses rooftop solar PV to meet 86% of its energy needs, providing an estimated $230,000 in annual utility cost savings, while Ripon and Linden add an additional $223,000 and $50,000 in savings, respectively. The company has been able to repurpose these savings to other business needs and reinvestment opportunities.