Florida solar contractor SALT Energy recently completed the installation of a 3.24-MW solar project on the roof Badia Spices’ 300,000-sq.-ft manufacturing facility in Sweetwater, Florida. The project is currently the largest privately owned solar project in Florida.

The solar project is capable of offsetting approximately 80% of the facilities electricity consumption.

Established in 1967 by Jose Badia, Badia Spices is a leading family-owned Hispanic food company. Badia manufactures, packages and distributes spices, seasoning blends, marinades, sauces, teas, health items and other products to more than 70 countries around the world.

“We are proud of our commitment to build sustainable and environmentally- responsible practices to help green our supply chain and decrease our carbon footprint,” said Joseph (Pepe) Badia, President of Badia Spices.

This is the company’s second facility to undergo a transition to solar power. In 2019, Badia Spices began operating a 529-kW rooftop solar array installed by SALT Energy at its 100,000-sq.-ft facility in Doral, Florida. Mr. Badia and his wife Nancy also contracted SALT to install one of the largest residential solar arrays in Florida on their waterfront home in Miami’s Coconut Grove.

For the Sweetwater project, SALT had to move the HVAC system off the rooftop to remove significant shading effects.

“The requirement by our customer to avoid roof membrane penetrations for anchoring the array to preserve the warranty, coupled with the hurricane wind load design requirements in Miami-Dade County, posed the two greatest technical challenges for our Badia Spices project,” said David Kaul, Vice President of Engineering and Operations for SALT Energy. SALT used PanelClaw and SunPower products on the project.