Commercial Green Power News: Silicon Valley heavyweights' solar plans, Organizational REC purchases slow

Silicon Valley heavyweights' latest solar plans

Two of Silicon Valleys most talked about firms; Facebook and Apple, both had solar projects announced in the past two weeks.

Facebook announced that it will be making is first investment in solar energy with the installation of a hybrid solar electric and thermal system at its new Menlo Park headquarters. The cogeneration system from Cogenra will provide hot water and electricity to the headquarters’ fitness facility By combining solar PV and water heating, a cogeneration system can achieve up to 80 percent efficiency compared to 15 percent for a standard PV system, which helps to increase savings by 60 to 100 percent according to Cogenra. The system is expected to payback Facebook’s initial investment in less than five years and displaces 60 percent of the fitness center’s natural gas needs.

Apple on the other hand quietly began working on developing a solar electric facility at its data center in southern Catawba County, NC. The Charlotte Observer uncovered the project when permits and other engineering plans were uncovered. The size of the so-called Project Dolphin Solar Farm has yet to be announced. Apple is currently powering its Austin , TX; Sacramento, CA; and Cork, Ireland, facilities with 100 percent clean energy.

IKEA to add three new PV systems, half US facilities to have solar

IKEA has announced plans to install three solar pv systems at stores across the country.  With the completion of the three systems in spring 2012, IKEA will have solar on more than half of their U.S. stores.  A 1 MW, 4,311-module system will be installed at the company’s Draper, UT store. A 941 kW system will be installed at New Haven, MA store, and a 497 kW system will be installed at the Portland, OR store. IKEA will own and operate the three latest installations. In total, IKEA has solar at twenty-three facilities in the United States with more projects still being developed this year.

Organizational voluntary green power purchases slow in 2010

According to a new report released by NREL, commercial and institutional voluntary green power purchases slowed in 2010, growing only six percent. In 2010, corporation and institutional voluntary green power purchases were shy of 26 million MWh. Retail RECs, which were previously growing between 20% to 75% annually in previous years, only grew by six percent as well. However, the number of organizations purchasing RECs increased by more than 23 percent. The paper attributed the slower growth in voluntary RECs purchases to the economic downturn or a potential shift from purchasing RECs to installing more on-site generating facilities.

Source: AltaTerra Research, NREL

Other commercial and institutional solar announcements

Johnson City, TN has selected ESA Renewables to install and maintain four ground and roof mounted solar facilities of an unannounced size. Twenty-one follow on systems could be installed later as part of the agreement.

Toray Plastics Inc. has installed a $2 million, 445 kW solar electric system at its 70-acre campus in North Kingstown, RI. The project, which is comprised of 1,650 panels and covers three acres, is the largest in Rhode Island according to the company’s press release.

The Buccini-Pollin Group and Distributed Sun announced a partnership to develop and operaterooftop solar systems on 29 buildings with a capacity up to 1.5 MW in the Concord and Foulkstone Plaza office parks in Wilmington, DE.

The Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden’s Center for Sustainable Landscapes has become home to a new 125 kW system installed by Energy Independent Solutions with panels from SolarWorld (pictured below).

Photo courtesy of SolarWorld

Chicago’s O’Hare Airport has joined a growing number of airports around the country installing solar. Solar electric panels will be installed on up to 60 acres at the airport.

The City of Phoenix has installed forty-two pre-fabricated solar parking structures at the Burton Barr Library. The SolarWing parking structures include solar panels, LED lightings, and can easily incorporate electric-vehicle charging infrastructure.

Staples and SunEdison announced earlier this month that since entering into a partnership in 2005, 30 million kWh have been produced on solar systems installed at 33 Staples’ properties in California, Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey.

The Kent County Commissioners and Board of Education announced that they will host 1.57 MW of solar electricity to power Kent County High School, Worton Elementary School and the Kent County Community Center. The ground-mounted system will be built on 10 acres owned by the Board of Education.

Palmdale School District celebrated the installation of solar systems at eighteen of the schools twenty-four facilities. Currently, eight of the eighteen installations have been completed with the remaining systems to be completed by spring of 2012. When finished the systems will have a capacity of 5.9 MW.

Three locations in Michigan were chosen at random by CMS Energy to participate in an experimental advanced renewable energy program. 174 kW of solar will be installed at two government facilities in Saginaw and Jackson, with a third 10 kW system to be installed at a Grand Rapids restaurant.

Jurupa Unified School District in California has entered into an agreement with Chevron Energy Solutions to install a 2.7 MW solar system and complete a number of energy efficiency projects, which are expected to save the school district $34 million.

Best Cheer Stone, Inc.. a leading stone company, will install a 366.6 kW solar electric system at its distribution facility in Anaheim, CA. The $1.8 million project is expected to be complete in early 2012.

AER Worldwide, a global electronics recycler and independent distributor of electronic components, has completed a 234 kW solar system at its Fremont, CA headquarters.

Construction on three solar farms with a capacity of three megawatts has begun at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Installation of a 497 kW system has begun at J&S Wholesale and Rental in Asheboro, NC. J&S will lease a third of its roof space to Argand Energy Systems for the system, but will not purchase energy from the system. Progress Energy Carolinas will purchase the energy and renewable credits as part of its SunSense Commercial Solar PV Program.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) headquarters will host 688 solar panels as part of the buildings effort to obtain LEED Platinum Certification.

The City of Industry, CA has awarded a contract to Sunvalley Solar to install 200 kW. Construction is schedule to begin in 2012.