(File Photo)

(Reported by Danielle Smith of Keystone News Service)

Although Pennsylvania is a major supplier of electricity from coal and gas, solar energy is gaining ground. Federal incentives are helping local companies adopt solar power, reducing costs and their carbon footprints. Randy Groff of Four Seasons Produce in Ephrata says his company has installed a total of three megawatts of solar panels across its roof, partly in 2018, then doubling its solar capacity this year. He says the tax credits that funded these upgrades were made available through the Inflation Reduction Act. Groff says the combination of tax credits, grants and rebates has helped the company reduce the payback period for its new solar array, to less than five years. He also notes their refrigerated cold storage building uses nearly all the solar energy generated, cutting overall energy use by thrity-five to forty percent.