Environmental Leader

FedEx Ground is building a 2.4 megawatt solar array atop its distribution facility in Woodbridge, N.J., providing up to 30 percent of the hub’s annual energy needs. The solar installation, which is being put in place by BP Solar, will be the largest such array in the U.S., according to a press release.

This is FedEx’s fifth solar project, and the third involving BP Solar.

The solar array will cover 3.3 acres of rooftop space, featuring approximately 12,400 solar panels. When completed, it should generate 2.6 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually.

Installation should begin in August and be done by November.

The environmental impact should reduce emissions by 1,867 metric tons a year, equivalent to removing more than 340 passenger cars from the road for a year.

The Woodbridge distribution facility, opened in 2000, sits on more than 80 acres of former brownfield once contaminated with various polluting substances, primarily arsenic.

Among FedEx’s other solar systems, last year the freight division installed two solar power projects. One in Whittier, Calif., is a 282-kilowatt system , while another in Fontana, Calif., is a 269-kilowatt system.

In 2005, FedEx Express started a 904-kilowatt system at its Oakland, Calif., hub. The system meets up to 80 percent of that facility’s peak energy demand.

Internationally, FedEx is building a Central and Eastern European gateway at the Cologne/Bonn, Germany, airport, which will include a 1.4-megawatt solar power system.