A new, three megawatt solar array is helping an Illinois hog feed mill stay in business, Energy News Network reports. The Griggsville feed mill is operated by the biggest family-owned pig-producing network in the country and supplies feed across Missouri as well as Illinois. Electricity costs had eclipsed cost of grain as the Maschhoff’s biggest operating expense, driving up costs and putting the company’s profitability in jeopardy.

With the help of federal and state incentives, however, the new solar array will slash an estimated $320,000 from the mill’s annual energy costs and will pay for itself in five years with another 25 years of savings on the way. “We’re very serious about our people, the pigs, trying to get the costs right,” VP of support operations Gerry Daignault told ENN. The array will displace at least an estimated 3,000 metric tons of CO2 pollution per year. “We are doing our part trying to understand how we can be more socially responsible,” Daignault added. (Energy News Network)