In an attempt to improve its carbon footprint, Allen Harim Foods has decided to go green. The poultry producer broke ground on Monday near its Harbeson processing plant, on what is likely to become one of the largest solar farms in Delaware.

To achieve this, the company has signed a 20-year deal with project developer SolarSense, an affiliate of Berwyn based Alternative Energy Development Group. As per the lease agreement, Allen Harim Foods will purchase the 2.3 million kilowatts of power that are expected to be produced by the solar farm each year. This should reduce the company’s carbon dioxide emissions by around 1,616 metric tons.

The plant is expected to receive around 11% of its energy from a 1.57-megawatt photovoltaic solar panel array and Chris Fraga, the CEO of Alternative Energy Development Group, said that “this project is projected to save Allen Harim around 16 percent in energy costs during the first year of operation.”

The solar array is expected to stretch the length of four and a half football fields on a 6-acre parcel near Allen Harim’s Harbeson plant off Harbeson Road, with construction planned to last 3 months, barring unexpected weather issues.

“This project is in line with our strategic goals of environmental sustainability moving forward in Delaware,” said Allen Harim CEO, Steve Evans. He added “we’re trying to be competitive and one of the ways to be competitive is what’s your cost and anything you can do to try to get cost reductions and change your mix, all those things help us sustain ourselves long term.”

As it will be connected to Delmarva Power’s grid, the new solar farm will help the utility reach the goal mandated by the state which requires that all energy suppliers must purchase at least 25% of the power they sell in Delaware from renewable sources.

Together with Alternative Energy Development Group, Allen Harim plans to continue reviewing the energy used at each of its facilities in an attempt to further identify ways to reduce consumption and supply costs.