After cashing a check last month from the local utility company for creating more power than he used, Chuck Thomas, president of Thomas Produce Sales Inc. in Nogales, AZ, is scratching his head trying to figure out why his was one of the first produce warehouses to install solar panels in the area.

“I was very surprised that nobody else had done it,” he said. “Especially last year when the tax incentives were so great.”

Mr. Thomas explained that a generous tax incentive was in place in all of 2011, which required companies to have their solar installation plans approved by Dec. 31, 2011, and the installation completed by the end of April of this year. Thomas Produce got in just under the wire, and Mr. Thomas is laughing all the way to the bank. His typical energy bill was in excess of $1,000 per month, but now he is averagingWith the installation of a large solar panel system on the company's warehouse in Nogales, AZ, Thomas Produce Sales has greatly reduced its energy bill and even received a check from the utility company one month this summer. less than $30 per month. “Last month I got a check for a couple of hundred dollars because now they have to pay me when my system makes more than I use because the utility has to buy back the excess power.”

He has calculated that the payback on his investment will take 4.3 years, while the panels should last 25 years. He has been so enamored with the deal that he has also installed solar panels on his home. Mr. Thomas believes it is as close to a no-brainer decision as there is. “In [southern Arizona] we get 330 days of sunshine per year.”

He said that besides putting money in his pocket, the panels put a little life in his step every morning when he wakes up and sees the sun shining. That predictable weather situation means his utility meter is going to be running in a positive direction — making him money rather than costing him money.

“The only drawback would be the initial investment,” he said when trying to figure out why other companies didn’t take advantage of the tax incentive. “There are a few small installation but no other warehouses like mine.”

Thomas Produce has 104 solar panels on its warehouse roof, which is located in the Rio Rico Industrial Park.

Mr. Thomas spoke to The Produce News on the last day of July, which typically marks the middle of a light supply situation for fresh market tomatoes from California and Baja California. “Baja and Southern California are in production, but they are pretty light right now,” he said.

Mr. Thomas explained that the regional and homegrown deals around the country typically flourish in late July and through August. Consequently, commercial producers of vine ripe tomatoes in Mexico and California reduce their supplies. “It will be mid-September before Baja starts going heavy again,” he said.

Thomas Produce continues sourcing tomatoes through this period but he said sales are much lighter than usual. “Some of the East Coast guys will give you a few orders to keep their names in the hunt when supplies are tight later in the year, but we’re only getting one or two loads a week — nothing like the three or four loads a day that will come a bit later.”

After the sun sets on August, he said, most of the local deals will be finished and Mr. Thomas will send his longtime colleague, Jorge DeLaRiva, to bird dog the California and Baja deals through the fall until tomato harvest returns to western Mexico in December. “We always have a man on the ground at that time of year. He works out of San Diego and travels south to Baja and north working the tomatoes and the peppers and some of the other crops for us. We’ve used him for years.”