Nexteer to receive energy boost from 25-acre solar field - MLive.com
Nexteer to receive energy boost from 25-acre solar field - mlive.com
BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP, MI — A 25-acre solar field by next year will help power Nexteer Automotive operations here, officials said.
The renewable energy solution — a collaboration between the Buena Vista Township facility and Warren-based NorthStar Clean Energy — will lower greenhouse gas emissions at the plant by 7,000 metric tons yearly, or the equivalent of saving 780,000 gallons of gasoline, officials said.
“Renewable energy is the energy of the future, and partners like Nexteer are on the frontier of this transition,” Brian Hartmann, president of NorthStar Clean Energy, said in a statement.
“The Nexteer Saginaw solar field will serve as an important landmark — not only of the progress being made in the clean energy space, but in changing the corporate understanding of doing good business. It is possible to do right by the bottom line and by the planet, and we are grateful to see leaders like Nexteer seizing the opportunity to do both.”
When construction crews complete the solar field, it will be hard to miss for passersby. Illustrated renderings of the site show almost 100 columns of solar panels on the field sitting directly west of the Buena Vista Township plant. Motorists will see the solar field positioned between I-75 and the facility.
Representatives from both companies participated in a groundbreaking ceremony at the site Tuesday, Aug. 22.
Robin Milavec, president of Nexteer, called the planned solar field “a win-win” of both reducing the site’s carbon footprint and lowering operational costs.
“Nexteer’s Saginaw solar field represents the next step in our company’s commitment to sustainability, and today’s celebration highlighted our continued progress toward our company vision to be the leading motion control technology company accelerating mobility to be safe, green and exciting,” Milavec said in a statement.
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Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: solar
Declining costs and government encouragement have resulted in a rapid increase in solar energy production in the United States over the past 10 years, although solar’s share remains small: 1.6 percent of all electricity generation in 2018. That rapid growth is projected to continue.