Penske Truck Leasing will be using rooftop solar-powered systems at select truck leasing, truck rental, and truck maintenance locations in the US.
It said that it will help boost efficiency, minimize energy costs, and reduce emissions.
The company’s new state-of-the-art facility in Channahon, Illinois, is now fully operational and is predominantly powered by an onsite photovoltaic (PV) solar system, expected to generate roughly 80 percent of the building’s energy needs at 200 KW capacity. Any remaining required energy will be supplied by the local utility provider.
A Grand Rapids, Michigan, location will be active in the coming months, and Penske’s Linden, New Jersey, location is expected to go online in 2025. These facilities are also new state-of-the-art locations.
The new facilities incorporating solar systems in Channahon, Illinois; Grand Rapids, Michigan; and Linden, New Jersey, are part of the company’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building program. LEED certification is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement, and it is backed by an entire industry of committed organizations and individuals paving the way for market transformation.
Under a power purchase agreement with Sunrock Distributed Generation, seven additional Penske facilities in California are expected to be retrofitted with new PV solar systems in the next year, which are expected to yield roughly 600 KW of renewable energy across all locations. These facilities are located in Fresno, Hayward, La Mirada, National City, Riverside, San Diego, and San Leandro.
Penske is collaborating with San Francisco-based ForeFront Power as its lead project consultant on this solar initiative.
“Our solar program is an important piece of our renewable energy strategy, and ForeFront Power continues to be an outstanding partner in helping us bring these projects to fruition,” explained Drew Cullen, the Senior Vice President of Fuels and Facility Services at Penske. “These investments will allow us to directly generate our own renewable energy to power our locations and continue to support our customers with sustainable solutions.”
On average, four solar panel-powered Penske Truck Leasing facilities will generate an estimated 1 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of renewable energy annually and will result in an emissions avoidance of 442 metric tons (MT) of CO2, which is equal to powering nearly 90 homes for one year.
“The initiative to install solar systems at our locations is a part of our company’s LEED-certified facilities process,” said Ivet Taneva, Penske’s Vice President of Environmental Affairs. “Investing in solar has considerable economic impacts for our operations as well as the environmental benefits of further reducing emissions related to electricity use.”
Penske Truck Leasing is a Penske Transportation Solutions company headquartered in Reading, Pennsylvania. A leading provider of innovative transportation solutions, Penske operates and maintains more than 437,000 vehicles and serves its customers from nearly 1,000 maintenance facilities and more than 2,500 truck rental locations across North America. Solutions from Penske include full-service truck leasing, fleet maintenance, truck rentals, used trucks, and a comprehensive array of technologies to keep the world moving forward. Visit www.pensketruckleasing.com for more information.