Millipore celebrates solar panel installation project with ribbon cutting ceremony

Millipore’s chairman and CEO, Martin Madaus, was joined by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and other public figures for a ribbon cutting ceremony that celebrated the company’s completion of its $2 million solar panel installation at its Bedford, Massachusetts, campus. The solar project will provide renewable energy for Millipore’s Bedford and Billerica, Massachusetts sites.

In 2008, Madaus sponsored the company’s sustainability initiative which aims to reduce greenhouse emissions by reducing the company’s impact on climate change, reducing waste and changing its employee’s behaviors to reflect a more sustainable attitude. This solar panel project is Millipore’s first renewable energy project in the United States and one of the largest completed in Massachusetts.

“The primary focus of our sustainability program has been on reducing our environmental impacts—particularly waste, water and climate change,” said David Newman, director of sustainability for Millipore. “The changes we are implementing not only make sense for the environment, but they also have a considerable positive impact on our business. We are excited about completing the solar panel project, which marks an important continuation of our efforts to embrace renewable energy throughout the company.”

During the last six months, Millipore worked with vendors to design and install the solar panel system. The project contains 1383 Sharp panels and 4 Solectria inverters, which will produce around 352,000kWH per year – enough to power 35 homes with electricity – and will supplement the electricity purchased from the grid to run Millipore’s facilities.