Philadelphia, Pa – State Senators Nikil Saval and Carolyn Comitta, State Rep. Dougherty, and Solar States joined PennEnvironment for a rooftop solar tour at Greenfield Manufacturing, a warehouse in Northeast Philadelphia with an extensive rooftop solar installation. The tour highlighted the immense potential for solar energy generation on warehouse rooftops, an under-utilized space for solar panels. A recent PennEnvironment study found that if all of the warehouses in Pennsylvania added solar to their roofs it would generate enough electricity to power more than 820,000 homes and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“Warehouses have immense solar energy potential and can be a key component in moving Pennsylvania towards more clean, renewable energy generation,” said Belle Sherwood, PennEnvironment Clean Energy Advocate. “Putting solar panels on Pennsylvania’s warehouses would be good for communities, good for the electricity grid, and most importantly, good for our environment,”
Pennsylvania Senators Nikil Saval and Carolyn Comitta have proposed legislation that would help unlock the solar energy potential of warehouses and distribution centers across the state by requiring all new warehouses and distribution centers constructed in Pennsylvania be “solar-ready”. The senators’ legislation would also provide a tax credit for existing warehouses and distribution centers to make the necessary retrofits to be considered solar-ready.
“We have the technology we need right now to arrest climate change, advance a green and prosperous economy, and make life healthier, safer, and more affordable for working people and communities throughout Pennsylvania, and our built environment plays a key role,” said State Senator Nikil Saval. “If we harness the energy-generating capacity of the more than 500 million square feet of suitable rooftop space that sits atop warehouses across our commonwealth, we could power nearly a million households per year on solar energy alone.”
“Warehouses, distribution centers, and commercial buildings account for a significant portion of our carbon emissions. Meanwhile, they can be ideal sites for solar panels,” said State Senator Carolyn Comitta. “As the growth of e-commerce continues to drive warehouse development in Pennsylvania, this legislation can help ensure that they are ready to harness the economic, environmental, and public health benefits of solar energy.”
Greenfield Manufacturing is already seeing the benefits of their rooftop solar array. Their 3,600-panel system, installed by Solar States last year, generates more than 100% of the warehouse’s energy needs. They’re able to return any excess solar energy back to the grid, helping to alleviate the strain on the electricity grid and make their energy bills negative. Greenfield gets over $1,000 for their solar power production each month.
Greenfield Manufacturing is located in Pennsylvania Representative Sean Dougherty’s state house district in northeast Philadelphia. He says, “my neighbors are seeing energy costs increase exponentially because of energy-intensive warehouses popping up across Northeast Philadelphia. I’m proud to co-sponsor Solar Warehouses (HB 1260 sponsored by Rep. Josh Siegel) because it allows clean energy to be generated in-house, at their OWN warehouse. This will reduce the cost of electricity for everyone in our neighborhood.”
Advocates note that there’s never been a better time for businesses to invest in solar energy, since the cost of solar has decreased significantly over the past decade. It’s estimated that the cost of utility-scale solar decreased by 90 percent between 2009-2020.
“We have a 4.5-billion-year-old nuclear reactor in the sky that is raining down energy on us every day,” said Micah Gold-Markel. “If we don’t use it, it’s a waste.”
With rising utility bills and strain on the region’s electricity grid, tour attendees noted the need to diversify Pennsylvania’s energy mix. Currently, Pennsylvania gets only 4% of utility-scale energy from renewable sources, which includes solar, wind, and geothermal. Advocates noted that building more renewable energy sources adds much-needed capacity to the grid and moves Pennsylvania away from polluting fossil fuels, and that warehouses are a great place to start.