A local electricity provider is incentivizing farm owners on the Central Coast to go all-electric through rebates. They're expanding their services to help farmers efficiently convert their equipment.
Central Coast Community Energy (3CE), works with PG&E and Southern California Edison to provide electricity to the Central Coast.
Originally their Agriculture Electrification Program only provided rebates. Now the company is sending specialists to meet with farmers to come up with a plan to fully convert their devices. They call it their concierge services.
3CE’s Senior Commercial Accounts Director Gabe Ruiz worked in agriculture for nearly a decade. He said electrifying equipment on farms is not easy, there is a lot of planning involved.
“When you're introducing any type of new technology, even something like an electric tractor, how do I charge it? Is it gonna run long enough, does it have the horsepower? Does it have the capacity to do the job that I need? Those are all those are a lot of questions that these guys have,” Ruiz said.
According to the Department of Air Resources, California’s agricultural industry is the fifth largest contributor to the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. Ruiz said 3CE’s electrification program is their way of reducing emissions across the Central Coast.
3CE said over 60 local businesses have signed up for the Ag Electrification Program, resulting in over 1,000 metric tons of emission reduction.
Ruiz said the program is still growing.
“We're being able to have different conversations about different pieces of equipment and different parts of their operation and it's growing, right, where we're getting into really important pieces of their business,” Ruiz said.
Only businesses that specialize in agricultural production or processing are eligible to apply for the program. Other requirements for the program are listed at 3CEnergy.org.
