Jun 10 2015
Today SilRay, Inc., a turnkey developer of solar power plants and an independent solar power producer, announces the completion of a 287 kW rooftop solar array on the headquarters of Leadman Electronics, a Silicon Valley-based provider of the high-tech components products and online logistics-management services nationwide to major national electronics firms, including Apple.
The 52,860 square-foot facility houses 958 roof-mounted solar panels that are expected to provide nearly 100% of the facility's electricity needs, which is no easy accomplishment. Production lines at the facility run 24/7, and manufacturing electronic components requires an immense amount of energy.
According to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) analysis, it takes 1 million times more energy to manufacture highly integrated microcircuitry (Leadman's specialty) than it does traditional manufacturing. By deciding to produce its own clean electricity, Leadman is allowing Silicon Valley Power, the local utility, to direct more of its energy to serving residential customers, as well as taking some strain off the grid infrastructure.
In addition, Silicon Valley Power is one of the few local utility companies in Northern California still offering generous solar rebates at $0.12 per KWh generated. By combining federal tax incentives and Silicon Valley Power's rebates, Leadman will see 100% return on investment (ROI) within three years, at which point the factory will produce free electricity for the next 25 years and more.
"We are committed to serving our community with sustainable high-tech manufacturing practices," said Dr. Hao Nguyen, Leadman's Vice President of Operations. "We could not have done this without the guidance, expertise and commitment to excellence of SilRay -- we couldn't be happier with their work."
Leadman chose SilRay to develop the project after a rigorous review of five companies in the hypercompetitive Silicon Valley market -- but SilRay clearly stood above the rest.
"After talking to SilRay executives about what we wanted to accomplish, we felt immensely confident they were the company with whom we wanted to work," Dr. Hao said. "Their commitment to excellence mirrored our own, which is unusual for a company outside of the high-tech market. It was invigorating to work with such a dedicated team."
SilRay's President and CEO April Zhong says it was a pleasure to work with a company so committed to making the world a better place.
"Leadman's leadership team has a long-term vision to be a green pioneer in the contract manufacturing industry," Zhong said. "I deeply believe that being a green manufacturer will become a key criterion for companies prospecting for partners and vendors. As it has so often in the past, Leadman is on the forefront of a Silicon Valley revolution, and we were happy to play a part in this essential step in its green evolution. We believe the rest of Silicon Valley's high-tech companies will follow Leadman's lead."
The project, on which construction began on April 1, will be completed later this month.