Delaware Valley Concrete specializes in producing quality concrete and sand products for residential, commercial, and Department of Transportation projects. With nine plants located across the region, the company makes it a point to produce the most environmentally friendly concrete it can.

Under the Delaware Valley Concrete umbrella, Aztec Materials, situated on 300 acres in Hammonton, N.J., is a sand-mining operation consisting of a sandpit and, formerly, a diesel crane and dredge. The labor-intensive operation relied heavily on trucks to transport sand across the 300-acre site to screens that filtered out larger pieces.

Aztec Materials recently enlisted Practical Energy Solutions — a division of Spotts, Stevens, and McCoy, a regional engineering, environmental, and surveying firm with an office in West Chester — to provide comprehensive energy and sustainability services. The site’s operation now leverages an ecologically sound electric dredge powered by a large solar array.

Practical Energy Solutions acquired a $250,000 Renewable Energy for America Program (REAP) grant to purchase a new electric pump/dredge to eliminate diesel fuel use. The second grant it acquired for the client was in the amount of $327,000 for a solar photovoltaic array to power close to 100 percent of the initial scope and reduce Aztec’s environmental footprint.

Aztec has since expanded its operations, and the solar array covers the majority of the new total electricity demand. This solar array should last 20-25 years.

Project benefits include:

• increased production by around 500 percent
• reduced energy use and emissions from diesel to electricity
• annual savings of $180,000 in energy costs
• annual savings of $160,000 selling SREC (Solar Renewable Energy Credit)

With energy cost savings, SREC savings, and a 30 percent federal tax credit, the solar array paid for itself in less than four years. In addition to satisfying a 10-year loan on the solar array, the client will have saved $1.8 million net. Converting the new dredge from grid electricity to solar electricity reduces its environmental impact to almost zero. Considering the towering electricity costs in southern New Jersey, the solar array provides a strong financial and economic benefit for the company, as well as an environmental benefit for the region.

Learn more about Spotts, Stevens, and McCoy.