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Lordstown solar installation project largest in Western Hemisphere for GM
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The General Motors plant in Zaragoza, Spain, has an 11.87-megawatt solar array — the most of the GM facilities.
By Kalea Hall
LORDSTOWN
General Motors Lordstown has yet another title from the company.
In addition to being home to the Chevrolet Cruze, GM’s best-selling car, the largest GM plant in the U.S. and the most productive in North America, Lordstown also will be the GM plant with the largest solar installation project in the Western Hemisphere, GM announced Tuesday.
“We are honored and proud to be named home of GM’s largest solar installation to date on the Western Hemisphere,” said Steve Notar Donato, Lordstown plant manager. “This investment is another sign of GM’s confidence in and support of the future of Lordstown and the entire Mahoning Valley.”
The new, 2.2-megawatt ground-mounted solar array will include more than 8,500 solar panels — enough to power 1.5 percent of the plant. It will be visible to travelers on the Ohio Turnpike and stand as a “visual cue” of GM’s solar power use, officials said.
“GM has made a commitment in terms of increasing our use of renewable energy by 2020,” said Sharon Basel, communications manager of GM Energy, Environment and Sustainability. Solar “reduces the impact on the environment and provides a reduction in carbon emissions and lessens the impact on the climate change.”
It also is more cost effective in comparison to other energy sources, she said.
“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 in a statement.
Solar FlexRack, a division of Northern States Metals of Youngstown, will provide the racks to hold the solar panels.
“It was a great opportunity because we are based here in Youngstown, but we ship our product all over the globe,” said Joe Nobile, chief operating officer for the company.
The announcement in Lordstown came a year after the completion of the 1.8-megawatt solar array on the rooftop of GM’s Toledo Transmission facility. The Lordstown project will be complete by the end of 2014.
GM’s goal is to deploy 125 megawatts of renewable energy by 2015. GM’s facility in Zaragoza, Spain, has the most megawatts with its 11.87. Lordstown will rank fifth for GM.