Frito-Lay Begins Using Solar Power at Phoenix, Arizona, Facility

According to a new press release from Pepsi-Co, Frito-Lay (a 10-billion-dollar convenience foods division of Pepsi-Co) dedicated the new solar electric energy system that will help provide power for the Arizona Service Center, the company’s largest distribution facility in the entire nation.
The press release states the new solar power system at the Arizona plant boasts a 201-kilowatt capacity and is comprised of more than 1,000 Kyocera high-output 200-watt photovoltaic (PV) modules, making for a system that will produce some 350,000 kilowatt hours of electricity and deserving of this title: Arizona’s largest private-sector PV system. PV systems do not create any emissions. Frito-Lay’s Arizona Service Center PV system, which takes sunlight and converts into electricity, is directly connected into Frito-Lay’s electrical system and will help provide a portion of the plant’s energy demands during the daytime.

The installation of the new PV system was partly conducted by APS Solar Partners Incentive Program, an entity offering incentives to those who purchase solar systems or solar water heaters for residential and commercial use. The incentive program is approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission and is funded by APS customers. American Solar Electric, Inc., is the Scottsdale, AZ, photovoltaic-power firm that designed and installed the PV system at the Frito-Lay Arizona Service Center.

“Our company is proud to be a part of Frito-Lay’s overall sustainability program through the construction of this solar electric system,” Sean Seitz, President of American Solar Electric, is quoted as having said in the Pepsi-Co news release.

As Pepsi-Co remarks in their press release, the Frito-Lay Arizona Service Center has become the company’s seventh distribution center to be outfitted with a PV power supply system; the other six PV-powered distribution centers are located in California and New York. Frito-Lay made grand efforts to increase their company’s environmental harmony when, in 2005, they opened its first “environmentally friendly” distribution facility in New York.

In the press statement, Richard Beck, the senior vice-president of operations for Frito-Lay North America said “[i]n concert with PepsiCo’s Performance with Purpose efforts around environmental sustainability, Frito-Lay’s sustainability programs have focused on conserving vital resources and implementing environmentally friendly solutions like renewable energy sources,” Beck went onto say that “[b]y using solar power in our Service Center , we are harnessing one of Arizona ‘s natural and powerful assets — the sun. This project helps the environment, Phoenix and the greater Arizona community, a valued partner.”

Resource:

“Frito-Lay ‘Flips Switch’ On Solar Power at Phoenix Facility.” Pepsi-Co. 5 October 2007. http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=78265 p;=irol-newsArticle ID;=1059501 highlight;