Ashley Furniture installing solar panels on its Leesport facility

Ashley Furniture Industries recently installed 28,776 roof-mounted solar panels on its Leesport advanced-manufacturing and distribution facility.

The panels were purchased from SunPeak, a Wisconsin-based solar photovoltaic developer, and are expected to produce more than 9.6 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually.

The panels are expected to offset 90 percent of the building’s electrical energy needs. Annually, the building consumes more than 10 million kilowatt hours.

“The solar panel project we have at Ashley is just one more example of Ashley’s sustainability efforts for our global marketplace and local communities,” Todd Wanek, Ashley Furniture Industries president and CEO, said. “Besides reducing our company’s energy footprint, we’re also able to save on energy costs which, in turn, can be passed along to our customers.”

The system is 580,000 square feet and is the largest rooftop solar energy system in Pennsylvania and one of the largest nationwide, according to SEIA, the national trade association for the U.S. solar industry.

Ashley also has installed rooftop solar systems on its distribution and retail centers in Romeoville, Ill., and Lathrop, Calif., with plans to install them at two other Californian facilities.

Installation of the solar panels will support the company’s advanced manufacturing and warehousing operations, including automation and robotics, and battery-powered industrial vehicles.