Labcon North America, a company that specializes in manufacturing earth friendly laboratory products, announced today the completion of a $3.3 million, 800 kilowatt (kW) rooftop solar panel system. Over 2,500 solar panels were installed on the company’s 125,000 square foot building, taking up nearly half the roof. Now complete, the solar energy generated should provide nearly 30 percent of Lebcon’s energy needs. The project took 7 months to complete, and in addition to the solar panel installation, included improvements to power routing systems.

“At Labcon we place a high value on being a responsible manufacturer and considerate member of our community,” said Jim Happ, President of Labcon North America. “By installing one of the largest solar projects in Sonoma County [California], we are helping the environment while reducing our energy costs and helping reduce the carbon footprint of our products.”

Based in Petaluma, California since 2003 (Petaluma is most famous for the movie American Grafitti), the company received its project funding from U.S. Bancorp Equipment Finance, and partnered with SunPower for the installation. This project was just one the company has undertaken to become more environmentally sustainable.

“We chose SunPower as our panel supplier, because we wanted to work with a company based in the United States,” added Happ. “SunPower has been an excellent partner, helping us meet our sustainability goals.”