Benden Farms

Benden Farms is a diversified farm that grows a wide variety of field crops and orchards located just east of Colusa. There are a number of solar installations that are a combination of elevated structures as well as groundmounted systems, one of which was even converted into an airplane hanger. The systems power a series of irrigation wells and farm facilities for the farm. The systems used Canadian Solar panels, ABB Inverters as well as our own Rapid Rack racking system. Rapid Rack eliminates the need for panel clamps, which can potentially cause hot spots or microfractures in the panels. It also supports five-panel widths, reducing the number of rows needed to maximize capacity while minimizing the system's footprint.

Our solar project operations manager, Daniel O’Connell, served as the farm owner’s consultant, assisting with system sizing and design. He also managed the RFP process, working with multiple solar contractors to select the builder.

Our Solar Operations Director, Kirk Short was the owner and founder of Elite Solar, who was the contractor that was awarded the contract and ultimate built the projects. Kirk and Daniel worked together to commission and interconnect the project to the local utility. Elite Solar also performed the O&M services for the project.