A1A Solar helps South Carolina produce wholesaler harvest sun’s energy.

Severt & Sons went solar in 2018, and they’re not looking back!

• Highest Electric Bill Before Solar: $9,000
• Highest Electric Bill After Solar: $500!

Severt & Sons Produce is a third generation family owned and operated grower, shipper and wholesaler of fresh fruits and vegetables serving the east coast. Their commitment to the environment and to sustainability led them to seek out alternate solutions for their building’s energy production. A1A Solar installed a 464kW roof-mounted system which now offsets 77% of their annual usage, saving them thousands each year. This savings, combined with tax incentives, will pay for the system in just under 4 years.

Installing solar panels on our warehouse shows our commitment to our environment. Our business is directly dependent on our environment and it’s important for us to maintain the highest standard of environmentally friendly business methods. — Mike Severt, President of Severt & Sons

Utilizing their own clean energy power plant solves Severt’s problem of balancing their responsibility to the environment with their high energy usage demands each year. With solar, they’re saving money AND the planet.

• CO2 sequestered by 12,151 tree seedlings grown for 10 years or 552 acres of US forests in one year.
• CO2 emissions from 52,758 gallons of gasoline, 512,972 pounds of coal burned, or 70.3 homes’ electricity use for one year Greenhouse gas emissions from 1,149,159 miles driven by an average passenger vehicle each year

Jacksonville, Florida Cold Storage and Warehouse building

• 614.6 KW Roof Mounted System
• 200 KW Generac Generator

Aqua Gulf has provided transportation and logistics solutions to help drive the economy of Puerto Rico for over 40 years. Their history of financial stability and innovation has helped them gain leadership in the Puerto Rican market. Aqua Gulf is an innovator in the logistics landscape and recognizes that efficiency of environmental impact is just as important as efficiency of time and cost. Solar was a logical step for them.

In the spring of 2018, Key Cargo/Aqua Gulf Marine began building a new cold storage addition to their industrial distribution facility. Power resiliency was paramount for the customer. As such, they wanted to add both solar plus the ability to backup large, critical loads on site. The project was unique because the customer requested that part of the solar system operate in parallel with the backup generator during grid outages. Most solar systems installed on site with backup generators are interconnected in such a way as not operate during an outage condition. A1A Solar weighed options and designed a energy system that includes a 200kW generator connected to an automatic transfer switch that ties into the specialty Chilicon inverters to provide emergency backup for critical loads.

This type of hybrid system is the first of its kind in Jacksonville. The unique energy solution was installed in the fall of 2019 under budget and with zero safety incidences. It is virtually fail proof: During the day, the 1,795 solar panels work to produce energy, at night, the utility provides energy. In the unfortunate event of grid failure, the generator automatically activates. The 623kW solar energy system is capable of producing 731,586 kWh annually, about 40% of the facility’s annual electrical load demands. The significant utility savings are estimated to provide payback on the system in less than 5 years; after that, Key Cargo will be producing free energy for the next 25 years or more!

We installed Florida’s largest rooftop solar array, right here in Jacksonville!

After the installation of 340 solar panels on the Champion Brands roof in May 2017, we were a perfect fit for performing this installation, REC Solar made a smart choice in selecting A1A Solar as the installer for this project. —  Pete Wilking, founder and president of A1A Solar.

• Includes 5,472 solar panels
• Boasts a 1.89 MW system
• Accounts for 50 percent of the building’s power consumption
• Provides approximately 2,753,070 kWh of electricity annually
• Equivalent to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 2,133 tons yearly

A1A Solar Contracting took part in a highly competitive bid process for the retail store which is located on Jacksonville’s south side. REC Solar will design the system and has selected A1A to install it after multiple interviews and a thorough vetting process. The project was completed in October 2017 on schedule and under budget.