The Alvarado Street Bakery in Petaluma has unveiled a solar power array that will supply the popular organic bakery with close to 40 percent of its energy needs from clean, renewable solar power.

The project, installed on the 1.5 acre roof of the bakery, utilizes 1,722 solar panels from Sharp.

The rooftop array will provide the bakery with 404 kilowatts of energy, and is expected to help reduce carbon emissions by more than 390 metric tons annually, equivalent to removing more than 75 cars from the road.

The Alvarado Street Bakery solar power project was designed and installed by Sharp customer Stellar Energy of Rohnert Park.

"Deployments of clean, renewable emissions-free solar systems like this one are helping thousands of organizations lower energy costs by reducing their consumption of utility power, and creating green jobs at the same time," said Matt Lugar, vice president of sales at Stellar Energy.

"We're please to help Alvarado Street Bakery become a visionary company embracing solar power as the energy solution of the future."

"As a worker-owned company deeply committed to health and sustainability, we are so pleased to be harnessing the sun to help power our day-to-day operations," said Joseph Tuck, CEO of Alvarado Street Bakery.

"It's wonderful to see so many diverse industries embrace solar power as a clean energy alternative," said Eric Hafter, senior vice president of Sharp Solar Energy Solutions Group.

"We're pleased to help Alvarado Street Bakery contribute to the health of the planet by harnessing renewable solar power in place of utility energy."

The Alvarado Street Bakery will use Sharp's NU-235F1 solar modules. Using breakthrough technology, made possible by nearly 50 years of proprietary research and development, this panel is designed to withstand harsh operating conditions and offers high power output per square foot of solar array.