Corporate-wide Adoption of Solar Taking Hold

Last week, Kimberly-Clark and Prologis announced the installation of a 4.9 MW_DC solar array at its Redlands, Calif. distribution center—expanding on a 100 kW array installed in 2009. Kimberly-Clark joins a growing group of corporations, such as IKEA, Walmart, and Walgreens, which have expanded and broadened their solar commitments in 2011. After successfully deploying pilot solar projects, many of these organizations have become comfortable with larger on-site installations and deploying solar organization-wide.

IKEA is a good example. With the announcement of ten new solar projects last week, IKEA will have solar power at all of its Southern US locations and 75 percent of its US-based stores when the systems are complete. In total, IKEA will have solar at 33 sites with a combined capacity of 26.8 MW. IKEA has been able to install solar at locations across the U.S., even in the South—an area not known for solar projects. In fact, the 2.5 MW of solar IKEA will install in Georgia is more than the cumulative solar capacity in the state as of 2010.

IKEA isn’t the only company that has announced big solar plans in the past few months. Walgreens announced plans to install 90 solar PV systems at its stores throughout Ohio. Walmart announced that it would install solar panels on up to 60 stores in California. It is not just large corporations making solar plans; institutional customers are starting to explore partnerships to deploy solar organization-wide as well. One example is the California Department of Corrections, which announced a partnership with SunEdison to install 25 MW worth of solar at four of its facilities.

This trend toward organization-wide adoption of solar is significant for developers and commercial customers. For customers, solar is becoming an important part of an overall energy strategy. Solar benefits include reduced energy costs and significant public relations benefits. Customers partnering with one developer on multiple large installations can realize further cost savings. And for developers, organizations with a large portfolio of buildings are proving to be ideal target customers. They represent a significant opportunity to grow business volume, geograpic coverage and visibility.