Huber Engineered Materials powers Illinois plant with solar array

QUINCY, Ill.—Huber Engineered Materials, a division of J.M. Huber Corp., has flipped the switch on a 1.8 megawatt, ground-mounted solar array to power its fire retardant additives facility in western Illinois.

Huber Engineered Materials, a chemical and performance additive supplier, is based in Atlanta, while parent company J.M. Huber is based in Edison, N.J.

"The project will provide two-thirds of the facility's power needs during daylight hours," said Huber Engineered Materials President Dan Krawczyk. "This is a reflection of a broader initiative within HEM to lighten our environmental footprint globally, which includes the recently announced replacement of a coal-fired power plant in Germany to a new state-of-the-art energy-efficient gas-fire unit."

According to Huber Engineered Materials, the Quincy facility known as Marblehead now gets more than 60 percent of its power from the array during daylight hours. With more than 4,900 photovoltaic panels, the solar setup is expected to produce 2.4 million kilowatt hours of energy annually (or the same amount that would produce about 1,700 metric tons of CO2 if the energy was produced by non-renewable sources).

"Constructing the solar array supports Huber's enterprise-wide goal of reducing energy and water use intensity and CO2 emissions by 10 percent by 2022," said Don Yojung, Huber executive vice president of environment, health, safety and sustainability. "We are extremely proud of the entire team at the Marblehead facility for their commitment and hard work on this project."

The joint effort between J.M. Huber and SolAmerica Energy L.L.C., a solar energy solutions provider that constructed the array, is an element of Illinois Shines, a program that supports solar energy generation.

HEM will purchase the electricity generated by the array via a 15-year, fixed-rate agreement with Luminace, a Brookfield Renewable Company.

"Working with Huber on the development and construction of this project has been rewarding for the SolAmerica team," said SolAmerica CEO R. Stanley Allen. "Huber's vision was clear from day one, and they met every challenge with resolve. We could not have asked for a better partner."

Besides Huber Engineered Materials, J.M. Huber Corp. operates CP Kelco, Huber Engineered Woods and Huber Resources Corp., companies active in the personal care, food and beverage, agricultural nutrients and adjuvants, building materials, flame retardants and smoke suppressants, as well as sustainable forestry services.