AVX Corporation, a leading manufacturer and supplier of advanced electronic components and interconnect, sensor, control, and antenna solutions, recently installed a 908kW solar energy parking canopy at its corporate headquarters in Fountain Inn, South Carolina. Consisting of 2,700 PV modules, the installation boasts a projected annual output of 1.3GWh of clean, green power, which is equivalent to the amount of power generated by more than one million pounds of burned coal.
The new solar energy parking canopy will provide AVX with financial savings in terms of energy bills and will also serve to help offset the company’s carbon emissions in support of actively expanding company-wide efforts to promote greater environmental sustainability, which also include conservation and recycling.
Comprised of 10 double cantilever monocrystalline architectural solar arrays that cover the employee parking lot, providing employees with a wealth of shady spaces protected from the scorching southern sunlight, the solar canopy is expected to generate nearly 150,00 kWh of electricity by the end of spring and approximately 1.3GWh by the end of 2019.
The green energy will be used to subsidize the headquarters’ daily energy consumption and will also help mitigate the company’s electricity expenses by offering higher efficiency rates and more power output than polycrystalline solar panels.
“For us, the decision to install a solar canopy in the employee parking lot of our corporate headquarters was both fiscally and environmentally beneficial,” said Michael Maich, senior project engineer at AVX. “This latest effort to help reduce our global environmental footprint was also an attractive alternative to installing traditional rooftop or ground-mounted solar panels since it both generates clean, sustainable energy, as well as provides an abundance of shaded parking spaces.”
In conjunction with the new solar canopy installation, which was completed earlier this month by Hannah Solar, an Atlanta-based full-service solar integrator, AVX is also installing multiple electric vehicle charging stations that will utilize solar power to recharge employees’ vehicles.
For more information, visit: www.avx.com
