GM Lordstown to Install 2.2-Megawatt Solar Array
LORDSTOWN, Ohio -- General Motors Co.’s installation of its new 2.2-megawatt ground-mounted solar array at its plant here will be complete by the January, the automaker announced this morning.
When the last of the more than 8,500 solar panels are in place, it will be GM’s largest solar installation in the Western Hemisphere, the company said.
This announcement comes nearly one year after GM announced completion of the 1.8-megawatt solar array on the roof of its Toledo transmission plant (pictured). To date, that array is the largest rooftop array in the state, producing enough energy to power 149 homes in the United States for a year.
According to GM, the renewable energy produced by the Lordstown array will be enough to power nearly 1.5% of the plant and helps avoid the equivalent of 1,993 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere. That is equivalent to the amount of carbon pulled from the air by 1,634 acres of U.S. forests in one year. GM has a goal of 125 megawatts of renewable energy deployed globally by 2015.
The array will be visible to the more than 49 million travelers who pass by the plant on the Ohio Turnpike annually.
“With more solar installations than any other automotive company and the second-highest percentage of solar among all commercial users, GM shows that manufacturing and the use of renewable energy can go hand-in-hand.” said Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association.
With the Lordstown project, GM remains on track to meet a company goal of 125 megawatts of renewable energy deployed globally by 2015.
“You don’t often think of the Midwest when you think of ideal locations for solar, but reduced costs and increased utility rates have made sites like Lordstown and Toledo optimal locations to expand GM’s use of solar power,” said Rob Threlkeld, GM global manager of renewable energy.
The Solar Energy Industry Association, in its Solar Means Business 2014 Report, listed GM among the top 25 corporate users of solar power in the United States for the second consecutive year.
“We applaud General Motors for setting the pace when it comes to automotive manufacturing solar installations and deployment,” Resch said.
Pictured: The 1.8 megawatt solar array on the rooftop of GM’s Toledo Transmission facility.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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