Sakata Seeds to unveil one of the county’s largest solar-powered projects

Sakata Seed America has gone solar.
The Morgan Hill-based company announced that its 2,000 panel project, one that will create more than a million kilowatt hours of electricity and represents one of the largest solar-powered projects to date in Santa Clara County, is near completion.
“Sakata is an environmentally responsible company and is extremely interested in promoting care and respect for the natural world,” said Dave Armstrong, President/CEO of Sakata Seed America, who championed the solar initiative for the company. “By converting our beautiful California sunshine to electricity for powering our operations, we not only save costs but also reduce our carbon footprint and continue to contribute to the improvement of our environment.”
Installed by family-owned The Solar Company, Sakata’s new solar project, which is projected to eliminate 100 percent of current electrical usage, will be unveiled at an invitation-only Oct. 16 ribbon cutting ceremony and celebration at the 18095 Serene Drive headquarters in Morgan Hill.
Sakata Seed America, which put together a team of staff members from various departments to fulfill its sustainable efforts, has deep experience in commercial and home grown vegetable breeding and production, and in bedding and potted flowering ornamentals.
“Our focus is to ensure that we reduce negative impact on our global and local environment, community, society and economy,” said Diana Blea, Human Resources Director and member of Sakata’s GreenUp Team.
Sakata is also currently fulfilling a three-year plan to improve the infrastructure by reducing water usage for the office landscaping and through installing low-flow toilets earlier this year. Additional initiatives that have been made by Sakata include digital communications to reduce paper, rigorous recycling of various material such as paper, food/drink containers, and electronics, and switching out all light bulbs for energy efficient options. Both buildings at the America headquarters also recently had the windows tinted to reduce air-conditioning use.