Commercial, Distributed Generation, Finance, Solar, Sourcing Renewables  -  May 17, 2017

Campbell Soup installing 4.4 MW of solar at world HQ

Campbell Soup Co. on May 17 announced the groundbreaking of a 4.4 MW solar project at its world headquarters in Camden, N.J. 

Through a 20-year power purchase agreement, Campbell's facility will utilize the more than five million kilowatt hours of electricity per year generated by the combination of rooftop, carport and ground-mount solar solutions. Once completed, the project is expected to be the city's largest solar project. 

Campbell partnered with BNB Renewable Energy Holdings, SunPower Corp., and ORIX USA Corp. for the project's development, solar panels and financing, respectively. 

According to a joint news release, at Campbell's 38-acre campus, 2.7 MW will be installed on the rooftops of existing structures and on new solar canopies that will be erected in the parking lots. An additional 1.7 MW will be installed on an adjacent 4.5-acre remediated brownfield that BNB purchased specifically for the project, which the companies said will make use of otherwise unusable land and increasing the capacity of the system.

Under the 20-year PPA, Campbell will buy electricity generated by the solar project at a predetermined rate. The fixed PPA rate, which is currently lower than the cost of traditional electricity for Campbell, provides the company with long-term visibility for this portion of its electricity costs.

The system in Camden will be the third solar project that BNB has developed for Campbell, following a 9.8 MW system at Campbell's facility in Napoleon, Ohio, and the 1 MW system at Campbell's Pepperidge Farm bakery in Bloomfield, Conn. Both of those projects also use SunPower panels.

In addition to Campbell's renewable energy activities, it is also actively working to reduce its total energy use. The company in 2016 joined the U.S. Department of Energy's Better Buildings Initiative's Better Plants program, working toward reducing energy intensity by more than 25%. 

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