SCITUATE – The sustainability benefits of hydroponic cultivation always appealed to Katherine Fotiades.
Growing plants in a controlled, soil-less environment uses less water and produces more food than traditional field farming. But it also has a serious and expensive environmental downside: electricity use. Fotiades, co-owner of Skydog Farm in Scituate, said the constant use of a water pump and fans for the farm’s 3,000-square-foot hydroponic greenhouse cost her up to $800 a month – not including the expense to power the rest of the 2-acre homestead.
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Soon, those hefty electricity bills will become a thing of the past, with plans to build an 8.8-kilowatt solar array using state grant funding. Skydog Farm was one of six Rhode Island farms awarded a combined $117,876 in grants for renewable energy projects through the Rhode Island Agricultural Energy Grant Program, the state announced on Tuesday.
Skydog’s $17,876 grant will cover more than half of the estimated $30,000 cost to build solar arrays on the roof of the farmhouse and an accompanying solar tower that, once completed, will power the entire farm, including the hydroponic greenhouse, Fotiades said.
The farm has also secured two other grants to cover the remainder of the cost for the project, which will break ground next spring, according to Fotiades.
“Financially, it will reduce our costs drastically,” she said, adding that the upfront investment needed to install the solar array would also not be possible without the grant money.
The R.I. Agricultural Energy Grant program, run through the R.I. Office of Energy Resources. was created in 2016 using money from its participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative carbon dioxide cap and trade program. In the last five years, the program has awarded more than $777,000 to 43 renewable energy or energy efficiency projects, according to OER.
R.I. Energy Commissioner Nicholas Ucci highlighted the program for its benefits to farmers and to meet the state’s ambitious renewable energy goals, including reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
“Through these important investments, our farms are not only making sound decision for their businesses but also contributing to Rhode Island’s efforts to address climate change,” Ucci said in a statement.
Other recipients receiving $20,000 grants in the latest round, all of which will be used for solar arrays:
- Wild Harmony Farm, an organic livestock farm in Exeter
- Ninigret Pond Oyster Farm in Charleston
- Matunuck Oyster Farm in South Kingstown
- Burgess Homestead, a homestead and apple orchard in Foster
- Franlart Nurseries, a tree and shrub nursery in Little Compton.
