Primex Farms has gone nuts over solar energy. The Wasco, California-based pistachio processing plant now has a 1.108-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) energy system to power its pistachio producing operation thanks to Cenergy Power, a California commercial solar developer that will provide a decade of operations and system maintenance.

Del Mar Farms in northern California’s Stanislaus County – a supplier of produce to Californians up and down the state – will now offset over 90 percent of its annual energy consumption with solar energy.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced that will allocate $70 million in energy grants for the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). The program gives a maximum incentive of a 25 percent of a qualifying project’s cost. A loan under REAP may not exceed $25 million, and a combined loan and grant under REAP may not exceed 75 percent of the project’s cost.

On Apr. 5, Long Meadow Ranch in St. Helena, Ca., a landmark of the renowned agriculture and and wine producing Napa Valley since 1872, heralded the installation of a 56 kW solar energy system to power the ranch’s Farmstead Restaurant.