Interface Increasing Use of Green Power

The Interface Corporation is making good on its pledge to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and nonrenewable electricity. On February 19, a 127 peak-kW photovoltaic (PV) array was dedicated at the Bentley Mills carpet factory in City of Industry, California. According to Jim Hartzfeld of Interface, parent company of Bentley Mills, this is the largest PV array to be majority funded by a private company. (Funding was also provided by the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission.)

The array covers a half acre (0.2 ha) and includes 448 panels, each measuring 4.2 feet by 6.2 feet (1.3 m x 1.9 m). PV-generated electricity is inverted into alternating current (AC) and fed into the plant’s power grid. The new array cost approximately $1 million, and it will provide the Bentley Mills plant with about 6% of its power—enough for one of their 29 carpet tufting machines. “Admittedly, this is a small initial energy offset for a manufacturing facility that utilizes an enormous amount of energy,” explained George Maibach, general manager of Bentley Mills. “But the future will lend itself to other means of economic return as solar-produced products become more in demand in the worldwide marketplace. And, along the way, we will learn a great deal about what we can do with nature’s most bounteous and renewable resource,” he said. Hartzfeld added that Interface will learn the intricacies of using PV before other companies, which will ultimately develop into a competitive advantage.