Commercial, Demand Management, Distributed Energy Resources, Energy Efficiency, Industrial  -  May 9, 2016

Legrand to reduce energy intensity by 21% through fuel cell installation at HQ

Electrical and digital infrastructure solutions manufacturer Legrand has installed a fuel cell system at its headquarters and manufacturing facility in Connecticut that is expected to produce  about 88% of the campus's electricity. 

The company selected a Bloom Energy 500 kW, solid-oxide fuel cell system that sits adjacent to the buildings at Legrand's 263,000 square foot campus in West Hartford, Conn., according to a recent news release. 

Legrand said it sought to find a solution that would reduce the energy consumption and carbon footprint of its corporate facility, and reduce wasteful spending on energy.  The company said it evaluated other alternative energy sources, but found that either the sustainable benefits were not as great, the cost to deploy was higher or the power output was not as dependable.

The new fuel cell will generate an approximate 21% reduction in energy intensity and as much as 50% reduction in CO2 emissions, according to the company. At system capacity, the net savings will be approximately $2.4 million over the first ten years.

The company continued: 

Five years ago, Legrand made a commitment to reduce the energy intensity by 25% in 10 years across 14 of its U.S. facilities and pushed the envelope to reduce its West Hartford facility's energy intensity by 10% in only two years. These commitments established Legrand as a Better Buildings, Better Plant "Challenge Partner" in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings program. Within two years, Legrand met both goals and subsequently committed to achieving even higher energy reduction levels across all of its facilities throughout North America by 2022.

Looking forward, Legrand now hopes to achieve another 25% total reduction in energy intensity across all of its North American facilities from a 2012 baseline. The fuel cell is expected to help the company meet that challenge. 

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