Family-owned local chain Pizza Port Brewing Co. has opened a new restaurant and brewery in Carlsbad. In addition to the restaurant, the new facility serves as the company’s first-ever production, canning line and distribution center for Pizza Port beer, as well as the company’s office location. Sullivan Solar Power, the top solar installer in the San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) territory, according to California Solar Initiative data, has begun installing a 117,235-watt solar photovoltaic system on the new location’s rooftop.
“We are excited to assist Pizza Port in harnessing the energy of the sun to power its new facility,” said Daniel Sullivan, founder and president of Sullivan Solar Power. “Pizza Port is an all-time favorite dining facility for locals, and the company is now setting the example for local small businesses, demonstrating their commitment to clean energy by capturing the abundance of sunshine in our region.”
What started in 1987 as a small pizza joint owned by siblings Gina and Vince Marsaglia has turned into a very popular pizzeria and brewery, which now has five locations across Southern California. The old Pizza Port restaurant and brewery in Carlsbad will remain open, while the Pizza Port hub will also allow Pizza Port to produce, can and distribute their Pizza Port beer under the same roof that they will make all of their dough and fresh salad dressing for the first time.
Gina and her husband Ethan Murray went solar with Sullivan Solar Power in 2011 with a 10,716-watt system at their home in Carlsbad. After being satisfied with their solar power system from an environmental and financial standpoint, they decided to have Sullivan Solar Power design a custom solar power system for their new Pizza Port hub. The anticipation of rising electric costs played a role in their decision to put solar power on the newest Pizza Port facility.
“We are trying our best to be environmentally responsible, and our solar power system also makes sense economically in this situation, which is perfect,” Murray said. “We are excited to do solar on a large scale, contributing to a greener building, which will also save us around $30,000 annually.”
Sullivan Solar Power will install a monitoring system for the Pizza Port solar array so restaurant and brewery guests can see what the solar power system is producing at any given moment, as well as what the system has produced for the month, year and the lifetime of the system. It will also show the environmental benefits for the solar power system — environmental equivalents, greenhouse gases and carbon offsets.
In addition to the solar installation, two electric vehicle charging stations are also slated to be installed. The company has seen an increase of electric vehicles driven by its customers. This will soon allow those customers to be able to charge their cars while enjoying a pizza and beer.
Pizza Port and Sullivan Solar Power have partnered to host an educational solar lunch and learn for the local community at the new facility, located at 2730 Gateway Road in Carlsbad, on Aug. 31 at 11 a.m. The seminar will last one hour and will cover solar technology, rebates and incentives, case studies and what to expect with the upcoming utility rate hike.
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