The truck rental company has installed rooftop solar at a new facility in Illinois and has plans to develop more solar on rooftops across the U.S.
National truck rental company Penske has embarked on its solar installation plan, installing solar on the roofs of truck leasing, rental, and maintenance warehouses across the United States.
The company installed a 200 kW rooftop solar array at its new Channahon, Illinois facility. The on-site solar array is expected to provide about 80% of the site’s energy needs. A local utility will provide any remaining power needs.
Penske said rooftop solar at a Grand Rapids, Michigan location is expected to come online in the coming months, and a Linden, New Jersey project is expected to be completed in 2025. These are both new construction locations for Penske and are part of its LEED certified building program.
The company has also entered a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Sunrock Distributed Generation, sourcing solar power for seven additional facilities in California. These existing facilities are planned to be retrofit with a combined 600 kW of solar capacity across the seven locations, which include Fresno, Hayward, La Mirada, National City, Riverside, San Diego and San Leandro. Fresno, Hayward, La Mirada, National City, Riverside, San Diego and San Leandro.
“These investments will allow us to directly generate our own renewable energy to power our locations and continue to support our customers with sustainable solutions,” said Drew Cullen, senior vice president of fuels and facility services, Penske.
The company said that on average, the four solar powered truck leasing facilities will generate an estimated 1 million kWh of electricity annually and resulting in an emissions avoidance of 442 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, which is equal to powering nearly 90 homes for one year.
Penske partnered with ForeFront Power as a consultant for its solar initiative.
“The initiative to install solar systems at our locations is a part of our company’s LEED-certified facilities process,” said Ivet Taneva, Penske vice president of environmental affairs. “Investing in solar has considerable economic impacts for our operations as well as the environmental benefits of further reducing emissions related to electricity use.”
Warehouse rooftop opportunity
Trucking, self-storage, and other warehouse industries have an opportunity to install solar on large, usable rooftop space at their facilities. For example, Storage provider National Storage Affiliates Trust (NSA) announced it has entered an agreement with Solar Landscape to develop over 100 MW of rooftop solar across its locations in 42 states and Puerto Rico.
The rooftop solar portfolio is among the largest of its kind in the United States, representing a commitment to covering over 8.5 million square feet of rooftops with solar panels. The projects will be installed across roughly 1,000 NSA properties.
Nationwide, over 450,000 warehouses and distribution centers have 16.4 billion square feet of roof space. A report by Environment California and the Frontier Group estimates this offers the potential to generate enough electricity for about 19.4 million homes.
Generating this estimated 186 TWh of electricity would be equivalent to more than 112 million metric tons of carbon emissions avoided. This is equivalent to the emissions contribution of over 24 million gas-powered cars over the course of the year. It would also preserve an estimated 376,000 acres, nearly double the size of New York City, from being sacrificed for electricity generation.
California alone is home to over 66,000 warehouses and distribution centers with 1.5 billion square feet of roof surface area, soaking up sun, ready to be turned into distributed clean energy generation centers. The electricity demand of nearly 5 million California homes could be met by installing solar on these buildings.
The report noted that Florida, Illinois, Georgia and Texas have great potential, as well, and contains an interactive map for viewing each state’s solar warehouse potential.
