Document storage company installs solar on 8 rooftops

Iron Mountain Inc. announced plans this week to install solar arrays on the roofs of eight of its document storage facilities, which could be just the first of many solar installations for the company.

Iron Mountain owns and leases nearly 1,000 facilities around the world for its document storage business, said Samantha Joseph, the company’s director of corporate responsibility and sustainability.

“We’ve been exploring solar for a number of years,” Joseph said. “It’s something we’ve been interested in a long time as major real estate holders.”

The eight facilities that are the company’s first solar enterprises are located in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey – all states with substantial solar incentives and subsidies.

Those locations made the most financial sense, Joseph said.

The company also decided to enter a power-purchase agreement with SunEdison for the projects. SunEdison will own and operate the systems while Iron Mountain purchases the solar power from the utility at a 20-year fixed price.

“We’re in the information management and storage business,” Joseph said. “It didn’t make sense for us to get into the power supply business and own and operate our own solar installations.”

The power purchase agreements will allow Iron Mountain to keep its utility expenses low and predictable over the next 20 years.

While many of Iron Mountain’s facilities don’t use much energy as they are document storage facilities that don’t need much lighting, heating or cooling, the savings will add up.

The solar installations are also coming from a corporate commitment to sustainability, Joseph said.

“Everything we’re doing is being driven by the business values and for benefit to the communities,” Joseph said.

Iron Mountain CEO and chairman Richard Reese said in a statement that he felt entering into PPAs with SunEdison was a “no-brainer, given our sizeable real estate footprint and the economic model of solar energy.”

Together the systems will produce 5.2 million kilowatt hours of energy in their first year, enough to power 450 US homes.

Image courtesy of Iron Mountain