Medtronic to install solar

Monday, August 23, 2010, 3:50 pm

By Loralee Stevens, Business Journal Staff Reporter

SANTA ROSA — Medtronic CardioVascular will install a $1.2 million solar array at its Fountaingrove campus, the company announced today.

The 324-kilowatt system, scheduled to be completed by next summer, is expected to reduce the electrical demand of Medtronic’s largest Santa Rosa facility by 40 percent at peak hours and realize net savings of approximately $1.8 million over 20 years.

Novato-based SolarCraft will install the system.

“Generating our own solar power is part of our company’s commitment to running an environmentally sustainable business and being a good corporate citizen,” said Sean Salmon, vice president and general manager of Medtronic’s coronary and peripheral division, which is based in Santa Rosa. “It’s the next step for us in our sustainability journey.”

Since 2003 the division has made improvements in energy efficiency, water usage, waste reduction and employee health and safety, leading to a 35 percent drop in energy use at cost savings in excess of $10 million, while creating a safer, healthier and more efficient work environment. .

In 2009 and 2010, Medtronic received an Environmental Sustainability Best Practices Award from Sonoma County’s Business Environmental Alliance.

Medtronic’s CardioVascular business, which develops coronary, peripheral and aortic stent systems, employs about 800 in Santa Rosa.