May 16, 2012—As part of its sustainability plan, Iron Mountain Incorporated will soon install solar panels on the roofs of eight of its document storage facilities in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Jersey.
This is the information management company’s first solar panel installation, but not its last. With nearly 1,000 facilities around the world, the company has ample roof space for collecting solar energy, a strategy it sees for fixing long-term utility rates at these locations and meeting its goals for environmental sustainability.
Collectively, the solar systems located at these initial eight facilities will produce more than 5.2 million kilowatt-hours of energy in their first year of operation—reportedly enough energy to power more than 450 U.S. homes for one year. Additionally, the company estimates the installations will offset nearly 7 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually, or the equivalent of removing 650 cars from the road every year.
To deploy the photovoltaic systems, Iron Mountain has entered into power purchase agreements with SunEdison. Through these agreements, the solar power services provider will finance, build and maintain the installations at each site, while Iron Mountain will purchase the energy generated from these systems at fixed rates for 20 years.
