Ford to install solar cells at SUV factory, Mother Nature sees glimmer of hope
By Trent Wolbe 
posted August 13th 2010 5:17AM
posted August 13th 2010 5:17AM
From the Baby Steps department: Ford will be working with Detroit Edison to install a 500-kilowatt photovoltaic array and 750kw battery storage system at its Michigan Assembly plant in Wayne. While this is a great thing, the sun will only be handling about 0.5 percent of the plant's yearly 140,000,000-kilowatt-hour consumption. More important than that 0.5 percent, however, is the fact that the PV system will serve as a kind of teaching facility on the subjects of load-shifting, voltage support, off-peak charging, and demand response for an industrial setting -- i.e., an automobile manufacturing plant. Kudos to Ford for the teachable moment, but we know it can do better: the outfit's Dagenham Diesel Center in the UK is powered completely by on-site wind turbines. And we think they will do better: it tells us it's still investigating the possibility of a wind energy component for this and other facilities. You're welcome, Ma Earth.
Solar energy to power an SUV factory. The irony is off the charts.
Tree huggers rejoice!
They should put the panels on the hybrids that roll out the door too.
Seriously though people? Four comments?
Maybe they're testing it out before buying more.
how is the fact that half percent of a factory's energy needs is gonna come from a solar array newsworthy?
Ford has already failed miserably to deliver on its green promises. A few solar panels on an SUV factory don't impress me.
http://www.hybridcars.com/carmakers/ford.html