California Company Installs Largest Corporate Solar Power System

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger dedicated a 2 megawatt solar power system at Applied Materials’ campus in Sunnyvale, California earlier this month.

The company is touting the solar system as one of the largest corporate solar power installations in the U.S., incorporating more than 7,000 wafer-based solar panels and capable of generating approximately 2 megawatts of power annually, the equivalent of powering 1,400 homes.

The parking lot-mounted system tracks the sun to increase the efficiency of the panels while also serving as shade for several hundred employee cars, and is "a great hedge against future energy cost increases,” said Mike Splinter, president and CEO of Applied Materials.

In addition, the company recently announced that it would purchase 8,220,000 kilowatt-hours of renewable energy annually from wind and solar generation sources in California.