Copyright WEAU
VIROQUA, Wis. (WEAU) - Ever since it’s founding in 2005, Viroqua’s Wonderstate Coffee has been using its roastery to create coffees from all around the world. However, in 2015, Wonderstate decided they wanted to do more for the community and the planet by becoming one of the first roasteries in the world to utilize solar power. “Going solar, for us, was an opportunity to mitigate the stress we’re putting on the place where we live. It was also an opportunity to take that next step, take responsibility for the impact we’re having, and move the needle. We believe that business can be a force for positive impact,” says Wonderstate Coffee co-owner Caleb Nicholes Nicholes says the $35,000, 30 kilowatt, grid-tied solar array now provides all of the energy to the roastery, adding that 10 years after installation, it continues to provide more than enough clean energy. “In the days that it’s not sunny, we’re able to tap into the grid to use power from the grid. Then in the days that this overproduces, it feeds the grid. We keep track of how much we produce, how much we use. We’re overproducing about fifteen percent more power we’re creating through the solar setup than what we’re using,” says Nicholes. As one of the first roasteries to go solar, Nicholes says he wants more businesses to help the earth by thinking about the benefits that solar can bring. “We want to tread lightly on the planet and use our resources as we’re going to invest more deeply in thinking about ways we can show up responsibly to minimize our carbon footprint, and to just be a leader in the field of coffee for other roasters and other businesses who are starting to grow and maybe have more resources to invest in things like solar or composting," says Nicholes. As most solar arrays have a lifespan of around 30 years, Nicholes says solar will help Wonderstate produce more coffee for many more years. Wonderstate officials add they recently became B Corp certified. Those certifications go to companies that have met high standards of social and environmental performance.
