The company, which makes integrated circuits for the electronics industry, announced August 5 that it was set to turn on its 600-kilowatt solar array. The project cost $3.6 million - but it will keep an estimated 10,000 tons of carbon out of the air over the next two decades and provide shade for 280 parking spots.
"As a socially responsible company, we saw an opportunity to make a profound impact on our own energy consumption by using renewable solar energy to power our operations," Power Integrations CEO Balu Balakrishnan said.
The array, he added, "will reduce our energy bills enough to pay for itself in just 12 years."
With the installation of the solar power system, one of Power Integrations' two buildings can be taken off the grid completely. The company may opt to install more solar capacity in the future and go totally grid-independent - a strategy that's gaining favor around the country. Butte College, a community college in Northern California, announced recently that it will soon be a net-zero consumer of grid power thanks to solar.
