Renewable

June 22 (Renewables Now) - The North American subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Honda Motor Co Ltd (TYO:7267) has put on stream a 2-MWdc solar-plus-storage system at its campus in Torrance, California.

The rooftop solar array consists of over 6,000 panels that can produce about 3,000 MWh of electricity per year. Thus they will be able to offset around 30% of the purchased electricity for the entire campus and will also provide 100% of the electric vehicle charging energy in the parking lot that is located to the south of the installation.

Honda says this is one of its largest on-site renewable energy installations globally and even one of the largest solar arrays on a commercial building in Southern California. The solar array is hooked to three large lithium ion batteries -- one of 500 kW/1,000 kWh and two 100-kW/200-kWh units. The storage system is expected to even out the buildings' power usage and reduce demand charges.

This latest solar installation aligns with Honda’s target to reduce by 50% its total company carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on a global basis by 2050, compared to 2000.