United Renewable Energy (URE) and Constellation, an Exelon Company, announced the completion of a 1.8-MWdc solar generation project located at Hunter Farms, a 360-acre, family-owned cattle farm in Jakin, Georgia. The Hunter family, which established its company in 1937, will benefit from lease payments from a tracking solar array—situated within marginal and over-used land.

“Projects like this provide much needed income to landowners like Hunter Farms, Inc. In the farming economy, where diversification is increasingly vital, this project brings a nice cash crop to augment their top quality, animal-welfare-approved beef,” said William Silva, CEO of URE. “Constellation again proved to be the landowner’s and developer’s best choice to finance a unique and exciting project.”

“Constellation is committed to powering a cleaner and brighter future for our customers and communities,” said Brendon Quinlivan, executive director, distributed energy origination at Constellation. “As we continue to expand our solar project portfolio in the Southeast U.S. marketplace, we thank URE and Hunter Farms for the critical role they played in the successful development of our Jakin project.”

The system—comprised of 5,305 photovoltaic panels—operates under a 30-year PPA, with Constellation selling all energy and environmental attributes to Georgia Power. It is part of the nationally recognized Georgia Power Company Advanced Solar Initiative, which has helped to make Georgia a Top 10 solar state. Constellation now owns and operates 17.8 MW of solar projects in Georgia.

“This project supports and further underscores our mission of providing sustainably, organically and ethically grown, high quality products to our customers,” said Chad Hunter, third-generation member of Hunter Farms. “Investing a small amount of marginal land to provide reliable income to support our mission was a great opportunity to continue building a lasting legacy.”

News item from United Renewable Energy