HP Forms Alliances With Renewable Energy Providers SunPower Corp. & Airtricity

Hewlett-Packard (HP) announced relationships with two renewable energy providers, SunPower Corp. in the United States and Airtricity in Ireland, as part of the company’s strategy to reduce its global carbon footprint.

Under a power purchase agreement with SunPower, HP will install its first-ever, large-scale solar power installation at its San Diego, California facility. The contract with Airtricity will ensure that nearly 90% of HP’s energy use in Ireland is renewable, exceeding the company’s 2007 target for carbon emission reductions.

HP’s contract with Airtricity, a renewable energy company developing and operating wind farms across Europe and North America, is for the supply of renewable wind energy to a number of its facilities in Ireland for fiscal year 2008. The electricity supplied by Airtricity is generated by both onshore and offshore wind farms.

Through the contract, HP will purchase more than 80 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy. It is estimated that the agreement will save HP approximately $40,000 over the year-long contract. There are also significant environmental benefits – HP will save the release of more than 40,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to taking 9,600 cars off the road for one year.

HP’s agreement with SunPower covers installation of a 1-megawatt solar electric power system and required maintenance of the system for the next 15 years. HP will buy back solar power at a reduced, locked-in rate under the SunPower Access™ program. The HP solar electric system will be financed and owned by a third-party financier, which allows HP to take advantage of the environmental and financial benefits of solar with no upfront capital costs.

Initial estimates indicate that the project will save HP approximately $750,000 in energy costs during the next 15 years. HP also will earn renewable energy credits as the installation will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 1 million pounds per year, or nearly 16 million pounds during the next 15 years.

HP will extend the benefits of solar power beyond its facilities to employees by creating a solar employee purchase program in the United States. Employees will receive a rebate of up to $2,000 from SunPower when using the SunPower Premier Dealer network for the installation of a solar power system for their homes. In addition, HP will match the SunPower rebate of up to $2,000 per installation.

At HP’s San Diego site, the SunPower installation will include 5,000 solar panels atop five of the seven buildings. The panels, which are made up of photovoltaic cells, will convert the sun’s light energy into approximately 1,676,000 kilowatt-hours of electrical energy per year – enough to provide more than 10% of HP’s energy use at the San Diego facility.