eBay Adds Solar Panels to Topaz Data Center update from April 2012

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Sky and clouds reflected in the surface of the large solar array atop eBay's Topaz Data Center in South Jordan, Utah. (Photo:eBay)

E-commerce giant eBay(EBAY) unveiled its largest solar installation to date today, situated atop its "Topaz" data center located in South Jordan, Utah. Topaz is eBay's first wholly-owned data center and it was awarded LEED Gold status by the US Green Building Council.

The installation will pay for itself in four years, according to eBay. It includes a 665 kilowatt (kW) solar power system, designed and installed by SPG Solar, featuring 72,000 square feet of solar panels, covering nearly the entire roof of the data center. This solar installation will produce 924,013 kilowatt hours (kWh) of clean electricity annually, which is equivalent to offsetting 702 tons of greenhouse gas emissions or planting 136 acres of pine forests, eBay noted in a blog post.

This new array. in combination with a 650 kW array and 500 kW Bloom Fuel cell installation at eBay's San Jose headquarters and an 100 kW solar array in Denver, gets eBay's total renewable energy capacity to almost 2 Megawatts.

Solar installations seem to be gaining in popularity, with Apple announcing its plans to produce 20 MW of solar power for its iDataCenter in Maiden, North Carolina in February. Apple is among a growing number of companies to include an on-site solar array in new data centers, even though some debate the value of these installations, which typically generate a small percentage of a facility's overall energy use.

For more Data Center Knowledge coverage on Topaz, see eBay Unveils New Flagship Data Center.