Central Valley Business Times

Chowchilla-based Minturn Huller, an almond huller and sheller for over 260 almond growers in the Central Valley, has started construction on a 540 kilowatt solar power system.

Cenergy Power, a division of BAP Power Corp. of Carlsbad, is building the plant, which will power Huller's primary hulling facility.

The ground-mount system is the largest distributed solar project in Madera County to date and represents the second +500kW project to begin construction in the month of September for Cenergy Power.

Earlier this month, almond hulling and shelling company Pohl & Holmes Inc. of Hughson construction on a 504-kilowatt solar photovoltaic plant with Cenergy handling the project.

"We'll be able to enjoy significant utility savings for the first seven years and have an attractive option to buy out the system after that," says Jeff Hamilton, general manager for Minturn Huller.