Solar energy to power FedEx’s Oakland facility

Solar energy to power FedEx’s Oakland facility    FedEx Express will begin construction of California’s largest solar-powered electric system at its hub in Oakland’s international airport.
   The company’s solar-powered system will cover 81,000 square feet on the roofs of two buildings. The system will provide 80 percent of FedEx’s power needs during peak load demand, or the equivalent to the power needs of 900 homes during the daytime.
   FedEx Express will fly the solar cells, made in Japan, to Sharp’s assembly plant in Memphis for manufacture into modules. FedEx Freight will then truck the assembled modules to Oakland. The project will be designed and built by Berkeley, Calif.-based PowerLight Corp. The project will be completed by May 2005.
   The Oakland solar project is the second-largest FedEx environment-improvement effort this year. In Sacramento, Calif., in March FedEx Express became the first company to made a long-term commitment to develop and use hybrid delivery trucks, developed in partnership with Environmental Defense and Eaton Corp. The FedEx OptiFleet E700 diesel-electric hybrid trucks will be introduced nationwide later this year, the company said.