LAUREL, Delaware, April 5, 2007 (ENS) -  In a ribbon-cutting ceremony held yesterday in Laurel, Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner and U.S. Senator Tom Carper officially opened a solar electric project at a poultry growout house owned by Allen Family Foods, Inc.

Designed as a solar study for the U.S. poultry industry, the new system supplies all essential electricity for lighting, heat and ventilation used to raise day-old chickens to maturity, and will reduce Allen's electricity costs.

Because the cost of grid electricity has risen so high over the past few years, the poultry industry is looking at solar power as a cost effective, sustainable energy source for growout contractors throughout the United States.

WorldWater & Power Corp., developer of high-power solar systems, designed and engineered the $500,000 photovoltaic installation for Allen.

The project is a partnership between Allen, WorldWater, GE Energy, the University of Delaware, the Delaware Department of Agriculture and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

The Delaware Green Energy Program granted $250,000 to help fund the system, the University of Delaware will monitor the project and GE Energy, the PV panel supplier, will contribute to the project evaluation study.

The poultry industry is one of the largest employers in Delaware. Some counties have the highest concentration of growout houses in the country.

Allen Family Foods, a third generation family owned company, has been in the poultry business since 1919. Today it employs over 3,000 people in Delaware, Maryland and North Carolina. Along with breeding and hatching facilities, feed mills and processing plants, Allen has a farming division that produces feed grains, 28 company owned growout farms and coordinates with 550 independent contractors that raise chicks for Allen.

If the solar installation in Laurel performs well, similar systems could be installed at poultry facilities throughout the Allen company and across the country.