Solar provides viable long-term solution for food and beverage companies

When California-based Firestone Walker Brewing Company approached REC Solar, they had a goal in mind: brew beer with sunshine.  

“Brewing is very energy intensive,” James Presta, a business development manager at REC Solar, told pv magazine USA. REC Solar designed a 2.1 MW system for Firestone on its 70-acre plot across the railroad track from the brewery.  

“We’re really fortunate to have enough farmland that we can dedicate a quarter of those fields to farming photons and electrons,” explained Mark Fischer, the brewery operations director at Firestone, in a conversation with pv magazine USA, adding that a lot of breweries don’t have that space. “Our demand is high, and we’re trying to cover 60 to 80% of our energy demand with solar.”  

Fischer explained that powering the beer-making process runs the gamut of cooling systems, electronics and the physical infrastructure that performs the act of brewing, which itself requires significant amounts of energy. In 2024, Firestone used nearly 9,000 MWh of electricity; last year, the array generated 5,300 MWh of clean power to meet that demand.  

For food and beverage companies, solar can be a viable long-term solution to rising energy costs and meeting corporate sustainability goals.   

Many businesses in the food and beverage sector operate on thin margins, Presta said, adding that it makes predictable energy costs a key part of a company’s successful financial planning. For most of those companies that opt for solar, it’s more than just an environmental statement: it’s a smart business decision that reinforces long-term operational resilience.   

“Energy is generally a large part of their operational expenses,” Presta said, noting that rising electric costs have pushed companies to find new ways to hold their margins. “Procuring energy at a lower cost is one way to do so.” 

Power purchase agreements (PPAs), which are contracted for 20 to 25 years, are one model that can provide cost stability for food and beverage manufacturers.  

“It lets customers know what their cost is going to be instead of having a variable cost,” Presta said. “Unfortunately, that variability often means increasing costs over the years.” 

Locking in that long-term structure frees up flexibility in terms of how customers can meet their specific goals, he added, whether sustainability- or cost-motivated. 

“From a monetary perspective, putting in solar has already saved us millions because the kWh price from the PPA is significantly less than that of PG&E,” said Fischer.  

Presta explained that food and beverage companies of all sizes are starting to hop on the solar train. While their specific goals may be different, he’s noticed a growing push to include solar in corporate sustainability initiatives.  

“We’ve seen some pressure from larger corporations to their suppliers to clean their Scope 3 emissions,” he said. Presta explained that the parent companies will often gather some of their smaller suppliers to chat with solar providers like REC Solar and get the conversation started around a PPA.  

“Through those conversations, we can show those providers that onsite solar can save them money and help them provide better service,” he added, noting that building out solar throughout a company’s supply chain will help reduce Scope 3 emissions and make it easier to meet climate and and corporate sustainability goals. 

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