GM Powertrain’s Baltimore County transmission plant will boast one of the East Coast’s largest solar power arrays, company officials announced Thursday, an investment they said will further secure the plant’s future amid major struggles in the auto industry.
The solar system will consist of 8,700 solar panels on 300,000 square feet of roof space and will generate 1.2 megawatts of energy, enough to power about 150 U.S. households.
Last year, the plant became the first in the United States to produce hybrid transmissions, and GM executives said the new solar array is another important step in ensuring the plant’s longevity.
“It’s good for this plant,” said John Buttermore, GM Powertrain’s vice president of global manufacturing. “This plant does an excellent job with safety, cost and productivity. It’s good for this plant and fits where we want to head as a company.”
The plant’s employees also see the investment as a boost to their job security, said Fred Swanner, president of United Auto Workers Local 239, which represents the plant’s workers.
“We’re hoping this is another sign that GM has chosen this plant because we’re going to be here awhile,” he said.
Swanner said it is still unclear whether cuts to GM truck and SUV plants elsewhere may lead to job losses at White Marsh, which produces transmissions for those vehicles. Earlier this summer, the company announced it would cut salaried positions and shift production away from trucks and SUVs and toward smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.
The White Marsh plant is already one of GM’s greenest facilities. Last year, the plant reached landfill-free status, no longer sending any production waste to landfills.
The new solar array will be fully operational during the third quarter of 2009 and will provide about 20 percent of the plant’s current power needs. Buttermore said the system will provide excess power back to the local energy grid when the plant is not in use.
Beltsville-based SunEdison will finance, install, operate and maintain the system. It will be one of the largest rooftop solar installations on the East Coast when complete, Gov. Martin O’Malley said at Thursday’s event at the plant.
“There are few things we can truly say are win-win-win situations,” he said. “There are several winners today.”
