“I come from ranching, tree land and hunting, so sustainability is important to me.”

Tyler, CEO of SevenLeaves, a Sacramento-based cannabis cultivation company, explains why enrolling in  SMUD’s Greenergy program  was perfect for his facility.

“The way the city was open to it, encouraging cultivation businesses to come here, was a big attraction. And just as important, there was a smaller and more personable power company. I’ve dealt with big utilities and they’re kind of inaccessible because of their size. SMUD offered much better customer service and accessibility. Plus, their price point was better.”

SevenLeaves promotes itself as using “the most sustainable methods available to cultivate, harvest, process and package our product. Eco-conscious consumers can come to us without hesitation.”

Tyler wanted to make sure that included the massive amount of energy he would need to power his facility.

“I was looking for something like that, so I called SMUD and their reps got back to us immediately with the program.”

Now, the entire SevenLeaves facility is 100% powered by renewable energy from SMUD’s Greenergy program.

“It’s worked out great, because we have a great relationship with our power provider. The Greenergy program is a little more expensive, but our SMUD rep gave us the rate schedule, so we adjusted our energy usage to the least expensive hours and we saved a lot. The difference when we avoid peak hours is substantial.”

And according to Brian, SevenLeaves’ lead grower, dependability of renewable energy is never a problem.

“The power from SMUD’s Greenergy program has always been reliable. In the two years that I’ve been here we’ve never had a power outage.”

“And it’s also something we can tell people about”, Tyler adds as he points to a plaque declaring that his facility is completely powered by renewable energy.

“That plaque in the front entrance, it’s the first thing people see and ask us about. And we can say we’re not sucking the grid dry; we’re trying to find ways to operate but be less of an impact on energy usage.

The other benefit of our easy communication with SMUD is the opportunity to speak with their representatives and then educate others in the industry about how we’re succeeding using the Greenergy program, as well as implementing new technologies with LED and Time-of-Use and HVAC systems to grow a better product in a more efficient way. And that, for me, coming from the energy world, is a big plus. I want other industrial cultivators to know that they can do this too, and work with SMUD and their programs, because it creates a safer environment.”