How Can Cannabis Cultivators Benefit From Utility Rebates and Incentives?

As wholesale cannabis prices continue to drop and states issue regulations to manage cultivation facilities’ energy usage, growers will need to find ways to operate more efficiently. A big piece of the efficiency puzzle is lighting, and utility rebates and incentives are available to help cultivators purchase and install more efficient lighting systems.

Although LEDs’ high price point leaves growers wary of making the investment. However, utility rebates and incentives can help cultivators mitigate the difference in cost between LEDs and other lighting technologies, such as high-pressure sodium (HPS) fixtures, for example.

It’s a wide range of different rebates that are available, but it’s really important for mitigating that incremental cost between HPS and LED. HPS can typically be around $350 a fixture. … LED can be anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500. So, it could be three to five times more expensive, and any type of utility rebate that helps get that cost down and help customers afford the fixtures on the front end is important.

Some states have issued rules to manage how much energy cannabis cultivation facilities use. Massachusetts, for example, allows recreational cannabis cultivators of 10,001 square feet and above to use a maximum of 36 watts per square foot. Lighting manufacturers can often help growers design lighting and implement strategies to meet these specifications, and utility rebates can help make the technology affordable.

Utility companies often offer these rebates and incentives to reduce the impact on their grid. Horticulture facilities use greater amounts of electricity, which can be problematic if a utility provider’s grid has a limited electrical load.

Utility companies have recognized that they can gain energy savings from incentivizing these types of businesses to use less electricity. It’s a choice of basically the utility company saying, ‘Do we incentivize these existing companies of ours to use less electricity than they already are, or do we invest in building new power plants in order to provide additional load to the system? Almost always, it’s a better idea for them to incentivize people to use less electricity than it is to build more infrastructure.

These are the most common utility rebate and incentive questions.