CleanTechnica

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is getting a little greener.

The Waterbury, Vt., coffee maker is adding 530 solar panels to the roof of its distribution center. When complete it will be the largest solar installation in Vermont, the company said.

The 100 kilowatt system will only provide a small percentage of the power the coffee company needs, but the real value of the system is demonstrating that solar can work for business in the Northeast, the company said.

“Renewable energy must be a part of our overall energy strategy,” Paul Comey, Vice President of Environmental Affairs for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., said in a statement.  “We
want to show our state and federal governments that solar energy works, and that we need
a policy that provides a broad-reaching structure for renewable energy.”

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The company told a local TV station the project will cost about $750,000, but was made more affordable by a $250,000 grant from the state’s Clean Energy Development Fund and a $50,000 grant from Green Mountain Power. Work will begin in the spring and should be complete by summer.

In January the company reported first quarter earnings that beat expectations and boosted its earning estimates for the full year. This is the latest in a slew of sustainability efforts from Green Mountain Coffee, which back in 2005 helped bring organic fair trade coffee to McDonald’s.

The company announced last month that it is teaming up with JustMeans.com to hold a contest soliciting the best ideas to combat climate change from nonprofit organizations. Four winning organizations will each receive a $200,000 grant to help execute their ideas.

Photo Credit: Rebecca Sudduth’s Flickr stream, via a Creative Commons license.

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