Lineage Logistics, LLC, the world’s largest temperature-controlled industrial REIT and logistics solutions provider, has opened the first facility in the Lineage network to generate 100 per cent of its energy consumption on-site.
The company, which has a presence in Australia, is aiming to reach net-zero carbon by 2040 and is a signatory of The Climate Pledge.
Lineage has installed a 3.3MW solar array and 460kW of linear generators at its Colton Agua Mansa facility in California’s Inland Empire.
Lineage partnered with PowerFlex, a national provider of renewable energy infrastructure, to install the rooftop solar array in Colton – the second largest solar array in the company’s global network of temperature-controlled warehouses.
The facility has 8,426 individual solar panels that will generate an estimated 5.4 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of clean energy annually.
The Colton array is one of several onsite solar installations that PowerFlex is supporting across Lineage’s distribution centres in the United States.
The onsite linear generators, a new technology launched in March by Mainspring Energy, create electricity using a low-temperature reaction of fuel and air. Distinct from an engine or fuel cell, a linear generator directly converts motion into electricity using chemical or thermal energy.
The units ramp up and down usage to enable maximum use of the building’s solar array, ensuring reliability and optimal use of renewable power at all times. This increases the site’s resiliency by reducing grid dependency and lowers operating costs.
Lineage’s Colton location is the first facility in the world with two linear generators, and the first of its kind to integrate a linear generator with solar panels. The two generators were installed in October.
Mainspring CEO, Shannon Miller, said commercial and industrial buildings account for more than a third of electricity usage in the United States and play an essential role in the energy transition.
“Mainspring designed the linear generator to accelerate this transition by delivering resilient, sustainable, and affordable generation that is also ideal for pairing with solar and other renewables,” he said.
“We are proud to partner with Lineage, an industry leader and pioneer in deploying innovative energy technologies.”
Lineage Logistics has a global network of over 400 strategically located facilities totalling over 2 billion cubic feet of capacity which spans 19 countries across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific including Australia.