State, federal solar incentives help Illinois feed mill slash energy costs

Solential is sharing this story by Midwest Energy News reporter Kari Lydersen published 11/21/2022.

The semi-trucks stream in and out, more than 60 a day, delivering mounds of corn and soybeans and departing full of feed pellets ready to fatten pigs across Illinois and Missouri.

This feed mill in Griggsville, Illinois, is a key component of the region’s thriving pork industry, operated by the nation’s largest family-owned hog-producing network.

“It never stops,” said Gerry Daignault, vice president of support operations for The Maschhoffs farm.

Neither does its need for electricity.

When people think about the cost of raising pigs, Daignault said, they probably think about the massive loads of grain needed to feed them. “But the power piece is getting bigger and bigger” — about two-thirds of the mill’s costs in recent years.

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