Search
Solar Power
Loading Video...
Problems viewing videos?
Learn more about the FedEx Solar Panel installation in Oakland, California
In August 2005, FedEx Express activated California’s then-largest corporate at its Oakland, Calif., West Coast Hub. The system reduces demand on the utility grid and serves as an additional source of power capacity to benefit businesses and residents of California.
To power the facility, FedEx Express flew more than 300,000 Sharp solar cells from Japan to a Sharp facility in Memphis, where they were installed into 5,769 photovoltaic modules that convert sunlight directly into electricity.
This 904 kilowatt system can produce the equivalent of power used by more than 900 homes during the daytime, meeting up to 80 percent of the hub facility’s peak energy demand. The 81,000 square feet of roof space at the facility is covered with more than 5,700 solar electric panels that also help insulate the buildings, reducing heating and cooling costs.
The environmental benefits include:
- More than two billion kilowatt hours of renewable energy generated by sunlight in the first two years of operation.
- A reduction of 342 tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the atmosphere – equivalent to 96 acres of forest saved or a decrease of 850,000 miles driven a year.
FedEx Freight also completed the installation of a ., and is nearing completion on a similar solar-powered effort in Fontana, Calif. A 282 kilowatt solar power system in Whittier will provide almost 40 percent of the facility’s annual energy needs, while approximately 50 percent of the Fontana facility’s energy needs will now be met by a 269 kilowatt sun-powered system. Combined, the two installations will eliminate 610 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year.