Company hopes to generate big savings with solar power.

Byline: DEVELOPMENT REPORT By Joe Harwood The Register-Guard

Eugene-based food processing equipment maker A&K Development Co. soon will be processing a commodity of a different kind: sunlight.

A&K owner Ron Anderson last week had contractors install a large solar energy array on top of a building at his 410 Chambers St. factory.

The 150 photovoltaic panels, each about 5 feet tall, will generate 22.5 kilowatts at peak performance, Anderson said. Averaged over one year, that's about enough electricity to power two single-family homes.

Solar power is a rarity in soggy Western Oregon, but photovoltaic generation does work here. Anderson estimates that even with the overcast Eugene skies, the system will average about five hours of power generation a day throughout the year.

The panels don't produce enough energy outright to justify the expense. But the $167,500 project was made affordable through a Eugene Water & Electric Board pilot program that provides incentives to businesses that invest in photo- voltaic systems. The public utility will buy the electricity the systems generate for about three times the retail rate for 10 years.

Federal and state tax credits for investment in renewable energy, along with the EWEB program, can offset the purchase and installation costs by 60 percent to 90 percent. Anderson estimates the system will pay for itself in five to six years.

The solar array is Anderson's latest venture in seeking to control his factory's costs.

"We're always trying to be more competitive and look at areas where we know costs are going to continue to rise," Anderson said. "Renewable energy makes a lot of sense."

Anderson's firm makes roughly 90 percent of the world's corn processing equipment. The machines husk and process sweet corn for food, and dry corn used for seed. Other A&K machines remove leaves and other debris from vegetables such as carrots and beans. Most of the equipment is sold to companies in Eastern Europe, Asia and Central and South America.

Anderson became interested in solar energy while thinking of ways to cool a sales warehouse A&K operates in Florida. The humidity in Florida rusts the spare parts at the warehouse, he said. To create a refrigeration system to keep out moisture, Anderson said he plans to install a geothermal cooling system and a solar-powered refrigeration unit. "Electricity is very expensive in Florida," he said.

He said he plans to install similar systems at branch operations in Thailand and Brazil.

Closer to home, Anderson has installed $105,000 worth of energy-efficient lighting at his Chambers manufacturing complex, which totals about 250,000 square feet of space under roof on about 10.5 acres. Anderson estimates the sensor-controlled fluorescent system has cut his lighting expenses by half.

If that's not enough, while returning from a business trip to Brazil, Anderson came up with a scheme to capture and disperse the heat created by air compressors inside a 17,000-square-foot Chambers Street building. The system keeps the building at a steady 65 degrees.

"We used to spend $400 to $500 a month for gas to heat this building," he said. "Now we spend zero."

Anderson, who holds nine patents for his food processing machines, also came up with a way to extract nitrogen from the air and divert it storage tanks that feed the lasers at his Pacific Metal Fab subsidiary at 311 Chambers. The lasers use the nitrogen to cut through steel sheets.

Anderson estimates all of his conservation steps have saved his companies $7,000 a month.

Anderson employs a total of about 110 workers. His annual sales are $16 million to $18 million.

Development Report runs on Tuesdays.

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A&K Development Co. has installed 150 solar energy panels on a building at its factory on Chambers Street.