Boeing Powers 787 Dreamliner Factory with Solar Power

Boeing announced their 787 Dreamliner will be the greenest jet in the skies once completed models begin rolling out of the company’s new manufacturing facility in South Carolina, which will draw 100 percent of its power from renewable energy sources.

A 2.6 megawatt (MW) solar energy system using thin-film solar panels will be installed on the roof of the 100,000 square-metre facility, providing enough electricity to power roughly 250 homes, or 20 percent of the factory’s annual energy requirements.

Boeing says the Dreamliner factory’s solar roof will be the largest of its kind in the south-eastern United States. The company partnered with South Carolina Gas and Electric (SCGE) to help establish a sustainable energy infrastructure for the site.

"All of the energy generated on this solar roof top will be used on site by Boeing," said Bob Long, general manager for resources planning at SCGE. "We’re actually going to be installing the generator on the customer side of the meter."

Boeing says the rest of the power needed at the new factory will come from other renewable energy sources, namely biomass.

"The renewable energy that we’re going to buy here comes from a biomass facility, where they basically take shrub waste, tree waste from construction and process it to generate energy with very low emissions into the atmosphere," said Rick Muttart, site services director for Boeing South Carolina.

Boeing says their commitment to responsible corporate citizenship extends to a 100 percent recycling of all waste products from the new Dreamliner facility, which shows, according to Mary Armstrong, vice president of Environment, Health and Safety for Boeing "that it is possible to commit to renewable energy on a large scale."

Other Boeing flight projects that have a more direct connection to solar power include the SolarEagle, an unmanned surveillance drone that will be able to fly non-stop missions for up to five years..

Boeing's solar power interests also include Spectrolab, a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing that produces solar solar cells.

Source:  Boeing / Energy Matters