Michigan plant to install 25MW solar farm

Holcim US is going to install a 25MW solar farm at its Michigan cement plant that will generate more than 30 per cent of the plant’s power and 75 per cent of its electric power needs.

Holcim has pledged to power all of its US operations with 100 per cent clean energy by 2030 and its latest move sees solar developer NorthStar Clean Energy installing an onsite solar farm on 100 acres at Holcim’s Alpena, Michigan, factory. 

Construction of Holcim’s Michigan solar farm will begin this year and commercial operations are expected to begin in December 2024. It is expected to reduce the plant’s CO₂ emissions by approximately 25,000tpa.

This is not the company’s first clean energy installation at its US cement factories. It has three onsite wind turbines at its Paulding, Ohio, plant. A solar farm at its Hagerstown, Maryland, plant is supplying more than 28 per cent of the factory’s energy. It also announced in March that it’s bringing large-scale solar and battery storage to its Portland cement plant in Florence, Colorado.