Company expects to save $1 million a year on electricity costs from $9 million solar installation.
Sealed Air (SEE) invested $9 million in a solar farm that is now powering the Madera, California manufacturing facility where Bubble Wrap is made.
The ground-mount solar installation sits on 11 acres of company-owned land adjacent to the facility. TotalEnergies, which recently acquired SunPower Commercial and Industrial Solutions, oversaw design and installation of the 3.5 MW project, which includes 8,975 solar panels, along with a 770 kW/3,080 kilowatt-hour battery storage system. The installation will cover 98% of the electricity needs at the facility and is expected to help reduce the manufacturer’s energy costs by $1 million annually.
“The installation of these solar panels contributes to SEE’s overarching sustainability strategy and advances our transition to net-zero carbon emissions in our operations by 2040. Through these solar panels, we are advancing our use of renewable energy, lessening the energy intensity of operations and reducing the company’s greenhouse gas emissions,” said Emile Chammas, SEE’s chief operating officer. “We are on a journey to leave our world better than we find it and the completion of this project is an important milestone in the strategic investments we’re making to achieve that goal.”
SEE pledged to design or advance 100% its packaging materials to be recyclable or reusable by 2025, and has a goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions in its global operations by 2040.
Over the course of the first year, the solar project will help avoid 4,982 metric tons of carbon dioxide and 72,172 metric tons of carbon dioxide over 15 years, which is equivalent to greenhouse gas emissions from more than 15,000 passenger vehicles driven for one year, the carbon dioxide emission from annual electricity use for more than 14,000 homes, or the carbon sequestration of nearly 1,200,000 tree seedlings grown over the course of a decade.
“TotalEnergies is proud to be SEE’s energy transformation partner as they invest to achieve ambitious sustainability targets,” said Eric Potts, vice president of TotalEnergies Distributed Generation USA. “Renewable energy is a business priority for both of our companies, so we are thrilled that this project will deliver long-term benefits to SEE’s Madera facility while advancing global progress toward carbon neutrality.
