Comcast said it has completed the installation of a rooftop-mounted solar array at a facility in Oakland that will generate 251 kilowatts of power, enabling the location to reduce its dependency on the electrical grid by 78%.
The installation, part of a multi-year series of sustainability initiatives being implemented by the operator in California, is helping to power Comcast’s will Oakland Field Fulfillment Office (FFO). Comcast said it teamed with The Solar Company on the installation.
Comcast marked the by hosting an event at the facility, at 8470 Pardee Drive, that included special guests such as Annie Campbell Washington, Vice Mayor, City of Oakland; and Dr. Daniel M. Kammen, Director of Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL), University of California, Berkeley. Comcast said it also made a donation to the Rising Sun Energy Center Youth Program.
Comcast noted that local efforts such as this tie into nationwide sustainability initiatives as well as Energy 2020, a program led by the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers and industry partners that has identified targets that include a 20% reduction of power consumption on a unit basis, a 25% reduction in energy costs on a unit basis, a 10% reduction of grid dependency and an optimization of technical facility and data center footprints by 20%.
“Our industry is growing rapidly and scaling bandwidth requires more efficient energy consumption to sustain the massive growth trend,” John Schanz, executive vice president and chief network officer of Comcast and co-chair of Energy 2020, said in a statement. “Technology, innovation and talent are at the core of everything Comcast does and generating clean energy on site at our Oakland facility is an example of how we’re using smart technology to help us grow our business.”
Among its other energy-saving focused activities, Comcast is also installing smart controls in its data centers to manage cooling and energy needs to prevent peak electricity loads or spikes in demand. Comcast said last year it installed its first fuel cell system to help power a facility in Berlin, Conn., and that it has several other sites in design review.
