Environmental Leader

Owens Corning, a leading supplier of building materials and glass fiber reinforcements, and SunEdison, North America’s largest solar services provider, announced the activation of a 440 kilowatt (kW) roof-mount photovoltaic (PV) solar system at Owens Corning’s Kearny, N.J., facility. The new system will produce more than 522,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of solar energy in the first year of operation alone.

Over 20 years, the PV solar system will produce more than 9.5 million kWh, which is enough energy to power 893 average U.S. homes for a year, according to SunEdison projections.

The project was funded by SunEdison’s first clean energy stimulus grant in the solar industry, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act), and utility PSE&G’s solar loan program.

Under a long-term solar power services agreement (SPSA), Owens Corning will use a PV solar system at its Kearny facility that is financed, constructed and maintained by SunEdison.

The solar installation is expected to offset nearly 14 million pounds of carbon dioxide over the life of the system, according to Owens Corning.

In late October, Owens Corning unveiled its Gresham, Ore., plant, which has a solar photovoltaic system installed by Sun Edison. That plant is 100 percent powered by solar.