MidwayUSA, a Columbia, Missouri-based retailer of hunting and outdoor-related equipment, has outfitted its new 300,000-square-foot headquarters with one of the largest rooftop solar arrays in Missouri.
About the size of two football fields and with a solar size of 1.612 megawatts, the system is designed to advance MidwayUSA’s sustainability mission while also delivering economic value – the solar array is projected to save the wholesaler up to $4.5 million in potential energy costs for their new facility over the next 20 years, according to EnergyLink, the primary design-build contractor on the project.
“The MidwayUSA project is the new benchmark for corporations looking to be more sustainable,” says Jeremy Nolen, EnergyLink’s project lead. “This is proof that, with the right ESCO [energy service company], it’s possible to be more sustainable in an economically viable way.”
A few other factoids on the new MidwayUSA solar array, courtesy of EnergyLink:
• The 1.612 MW rooftop solar array comprises 410 W Trina solar panels, 62 kW SMA inverters, and AeroRack racking systems to achieve maximum performance for MidwayUSA’s allotted project budget.
• In the first year, the updated facility is expected to save over $150,000 in comparison to if solar panels were not installed, with projected savings of approximately $1.9 million in 10 years and more than $4.5 million in 20 years.
• The sustainable impact of the project is significant: MidwayUSA is expected to offset 2,176,200 kilowatts of electricity annually – the equivalent of 3,399,528 pounds of CO2 emissions, burning 1,704,607 pounds of coal, or charging a smartphone 187,601,523 times.
