DURHAM, NC -- GE Aviation's Durham, North Carolina facility, cut the ribbon on its new $3 million, seven acre solar power field that will provide enough renewable energy to power 1/3 of the facility's electrical power during daylight hours.
The new solar power field, located next to the Durham facility, will utilize products from GE Energy's growing portfolio of solar solutions. The field is the first complete Utility Scale Solar Power Plant installed by the company and includes a Brilliance™ Inverter, monitoring and controls, and racking and cabling in addition to more than 9,000 thin film panels that provide the renewable energy. The field will produce 700 KW of power for the Durham facility or enough energy to power 200 homes. The solar power field will also help GE Aviation Durham reduce its CO2 emissions by more than 400 metric tons a year, which is the equivalent of removing 77 cars from the road each year.
"The solar power field is one of more than 200 energy reduction projects that GE Aviation Durham has implemented in the last few years," said Mike Wagner, plant manager of GE Aviation Durham. "These projects have enabled the site to reduce its electricity bill by 30 percent while increasing its production level by 50 percent."
The solar power field is part of GE's ecomagination initiative, which includes a commitment by GE to reduce its absolute greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 25 percent, water usage by 25 percent and energy intensity reduction by 50 percent. For more information about GE's ecomagination, visit: www.ecomagination.com.
GE Aviation, an operating unit of GE (NYSE: GE), is a world-leading provider of jet and turboprop engines, components and integrated systems for commercial, military, business and general aviation aircraft. GE Aviation has a global service network to support these offerings. GE Aviation Durham assembles commercial engines for commercial aircraft. For more information, visit us at www.ge.com/aviation. Follow GE Aviation on Twitter at http://twitter.com/GEAviation and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/GEAviation.