California cannabis cultivator to power indoor production with solar energy

US cannabis cultivator Canndescent has completed a 282.6-kW solar power system to supply electricity to its indoor production facility in Desert Hot Springs, California.

This is the cannabis industry’s first commercial-scale solar project, the company said in a statement on Monday. After two years of trying to win project approval and financing, Canndescent managed to build the solar array in eight weeks.

“Given the restrictions around cannabis banking and lending and the complexities of energy projects and California civil construction in general, this was extraordinarily difficult to pull off,” said Tom DiGiovanni, Canndescent’s chief compliance officer.

The solar system consists of 734 solar modules installed on seven different carport structures. The photovoltaic (PV) array can now reduce annual atmospheric carbon emissions by 365 tonnes.

Canndescent noted it has further solar project plans and will share them in a white paper in the second quarter of the year.

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