The U.S. Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has released research showing America’s top corporations are adding more solar power capacity than ever before – and they’re not just doing it for the positive publicity.
SEIA’s latest Solar Means Business report states the use of solar energy by America’s biggest companies has grown by a massive 183 percent in the four years since the organisation began surveying solar electricity capacity in the U.S. business community.
The study, which identifies major commercial solar projects and ranks top corporate solar users, shows a 59 percent increase in solar installations since 2014.
This surge in growth reflects a rapid decline in the cost of solar technology and consequently an increase in returns according to SEIA President Rhone Resch, making solar panels a winner for shareholders and the environment alike.
“These blue-chip companies have realized investing in solar is a common-sense, cost-effective decision that pays dividends for both the environment and their bottom lines,” he said.
“Not only are they helping to create thousands of American jobs in solar, the nearly 1,700 systems currently in operation are generating enough clean, reliable electricity to offset nearly 890,000 metric tons of harmful carbon emissions a year.”
Among the top 25 solar corporations surveyed, Walmart ranked highest for installed capacity, with a total of 142 MW spread across 348 locations.
Other major companies featured include Apple, Costco, Target, Prologis, L’Oreal, Safeway, IKEA, FedEx, Toyota and General Motors; the latter America’s highest ranking automotive company in the solar power stakes with an installed capacity of 11.5 percent.
While retail and manufacturing businesses took advantage of vast, under-utilised roof space on warehouses and car parks to install commercial solar systems to help meet their electricity needs; others such as Apple, Verizon and Intel, used power purchase agreements (solar PPA‘s) to buy energy from utility-scale solar plants.
“The growth in solar adoption by America’s business community represents just one piece of the broad-based growth in solar installations we’ve seen in the United States over the last decade,” the report states.
“Spurred by investments in solar made at the residential, commercial and utility-scale level, installed solar capacity in the U.S is 30 times greater today than it was in 2006. By the end of 2015, there will be enough solar electricity generated in the U.S. to power more than 5.5 million homes.”
The full Solar Means Business report can be viewed here (PDF).
