Our expertly-crafted confection creations are already known to bring a sunny disposition to customers. Now, thanks to a new initiative at Nassau Candy, in addition to the sunny dispositions we generate, we’ll also be generating sustainable power from the sun. Nassau Candy is going solar. We’re proud to share our story leading into Solar Appreciation Day Friday, March 12.

As a family-owned business, it’s important to Nassau Candy to reduce our carbon footprint and lessen our impact on the environment, helping to preserve the planet for future generations. We faced some challenges to make this goal a reality. One of our biggest hurdles came about while assessing the amount of energy required for some of our manufacturing processes. Since we couldn’t change those manufacturing processes, we needed to partner with an energy company who could innovate and work within our constraints. We did some research and found solar energy would be the solution that allow our customers get the confections they love, while meeting our sustainability goals.

Working with Centrica Business Solutions, we were able to create a custom-designed 1.24MW solar photovoltaic (PV) system for our Hicksville, New York location.  As part of the system, the roof of our facility was outfitted with 3,219 modules, which will harness the power of the sun to generate 1.4 million kilowatt-hours of clean, renewable energy each year.  That’s more than our yearly energy needs.

Beyond offsetting 100% of our energy needs, going solar does a lot to reduce Nassau Candy’s carbon footprint.  Running our Hicksville location on solar energy results in a CO2 saving that’s equal to removing 218 vehicles from the road for one year – or saving 113,696 gallons of gasoline.

In addition to helping Nassau Candy reduce our carbon footprint and become more eco-friendly, our solar program will also help our surrounding community become more sustainable, as well.  Since Nassau Candy’s Hicksville location uses a little more than 1 million kilowatt-hours of energy each year, our solar panels will generate excess energy. The extra energy will be purchased by a local utility company and used to power businesses and residences in the neighborhood. These little steps go a long way to preserving our natural resources for the future generations to enjoy.