Cold chain solutions provider FreezPak Logistics has added solar energy systems to the company’s logistics facilities in both Carteret and Elizabeth, New Jersey.
FreezPak’s Carteret and Elizabeth locations are expected to generate a combined 2.8 million kilowatt hours of solar electricity generation in the first year.
The projects are part of the company’s push toward clean energy solutions from renewable sources, Mike Saoud, co-CEO of FreezPak Logistics, said.
“Our company is very focused on controlling cost, not only for the bottom line, but to also continue our support to be closer and closer off the grid,” Saoud said in a statement.
“The use of hydrogen fuel cells, solar panels, upgraded dock equipment and most recently the use of ammonia refrigeration systems, these are all components in becoming a more sustainable organization. The use of our hydrogen plants will also pay off in the very near future with hydrogen tractors coming into the market.”
Founded in 2001, FreezPak Logistics is a family-owned company headquartered in Carteret. The company currently operates five facilities in New Jersey and Philadelphia.
Cold storage warehouses have some of the highest electric energy consumption rates in the commercial building sector, with estimates of up to 70% of energy use from electricity for refrigeration.
It’s not clear how widespread the use of solar panels is in the cold storage facilities industry. Lineage Logistics, one of the world’s largest temperature-controlled logistics providers in the world, installed solar panels at its facility in Colton, California, last year. The project was the first facility in the Lineage network generating 100% of its energy consumption on-site.
FreezPak worked with Greenskies Clean Focus, a provider of renewable energy solutions, and Vanguard Energy Partners, a national solar construction firm, on the project.
The Carteret facility received 2,462 solar panels, while the cold storage facility in Elizabeth received 3,135. The total cost of adding solar energy to the facilities totaled about $5 million.
FreezPak is also in the process of opening new cold storage facilities in Woodbridge, New Jersey, and Miami.
The Woodbridge facility, which is scheduled to open by the end of the year, is also slated to receive a renewable solar energy system.
“FreezPak has been steadfast in our efforts to become more ESG,” Saoud said. “Woodbridge is being built to LEED certification standards.”
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