FedEx Ground, the FedEx unit that ships small packages, plans to begin work next month on what the firm is billing as the largest rooftop solar power installation in the country.

When the project with BP Solar is complete in November, the 2.42 megawatt system is to cover 3.3 acres atop a distribution hub in Woodbridge, N.J., with 12,400 solar panels. At that size it will be the largest in the country for the time being.

It is expected to provide as much as 30 percent of the site's energy needs. Under their agreement, BP will install and operate the system and FedEx will purchase the power generated.

When the system is in full operation, FedEx says, the resulting annual reduction in CO2 emissions will amount to 1,867 metric tons.

The installation will be the fifth FedEx solar project and the third the company has had with BP. The two most recently completed projects were installed last year in California -- a 282-kilowatt system in Whittier and a 269-kilowatt system in Fontana. The first also was in California, where the 904-kilowatt system in Oakland went online in 2005.

In Germany, the company is building a hub to serve as a gateway to central and eastern Europe, and that site is to include a 1.4-megawatt solar power system. The hub is scheduled for completion in 2010.


_{Image courtesy of FedEx.}