Since 2009, Mars Snackfood US, a manufacturer of the M&M chocolates, covers roughly 20% of the energy consumed at headquarters in Hackettstown, New Jersey, by solar power. The Mars Solar Garden was commissioned in September 2009 and has a nominal power of 2.2 MWp. A total of more than 28,000 thin film modules were built on an area of more than seven hectares. The Sunny Central 250-US inverters by SMA are specifically designed for commercial PV applications and ensure highest availability of the solar energy produced.
The company responsible for the realization of the project is juwi solar. The US-based Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) operates the PV power plant and ensures the availability of electricity for Mars Snackfood.
Due to the Mars Solar Garden, the CO2 emission can be reduced by more than 1,000 tons per year. Right from the planning stage, the responsibles at juwi solar decided for SMA inverters. The Sunny Central 250-US is developed for the special requirements of the US market and can be directly connected to the low voltage grid due to their integrated transformer. An integrated data logger simplifies the monitoring and remote maintenance of the plant. Furthermore, the inverters ensure feeding-in even at an ambient temperature of 60° C.
