SCA Tissue North America has officially dedicated its newly installed system of 115 solar panels at the company’s Wisconsin corporate offices.

The company is using its Service Excellence Center in Menasha, as a learning laboratory for alternative energy while also pursuing green certification for the structure’s environmental footprint.

The rooftop solar panels, which began operating Feb. 25, will generate an estimated 22,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. At just under 1,500 total square feet with a rating of nearly 20 kilowatts, the configuration of panels is among the largest non-commercial solar electric photovoltaic (PV) systems in the Wisconsin outside of Milwaukee.

The system—which represents an investment of $170,000 before tax credits and rebates—will provide a small fraction of the offices’ annual electrical needs but will have a far-reaching impact on the company, says Mike Dillon, SCA tissue manager, environmental and risk Management.

“This is really a demonstration project for us,” said Dillon. “We’ll take what we learn from this and share it with the other mills and offices.”

SCA Tissue, which is headquartered in Philadelphia with SCA Americas, has mills and converting operations in Wisconsin, New York, Georgia, Illinois and Arizona.

At the Service Excellence Center in Menasha, electricity generated by the panels is channeled through meters into the power grid of the local utility, WE Energies. Through its Energy For Tomorrow program, the utility pays SCA about 22 cents per solar-power kilowatt and allows the company to purchase an equal amount of green-generated electricity at approximately 11 cents per kilowatt.

“At today’s electrical rates, the investment payback will be about nine years,” Dillon says. “But because these panels will last 30 to 50 years and the price of electricity continues to climb, the return on investment will continue to grow.”

With the solar panels generating power, SCA Tissue has now turned its attention to investigating wind power for the Wisconsin offices.

“We’ve had a preliminary assessment done that shows we have four sites on our property where wind turbines would work,” Dillon says. A wind turbine with a 26-foot blade span on top of a 140-foot tower would produce nearly 100,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, he adds.

“While no decisions have been made on the wind turbine, we’re looking into it,” says Dillon, who also serves on the City of Menasha and Town of Menasha Sustainability Committees. The town committee is looking into renewable sources of energy (solar and wind) for its public works garage and other municipal buildings.

The solar and wind energy initiatives at SCA Tissue reflect a wider corporate sustainable business philosophy that is being put to work at the Service Excellence Center on McMahon Drive.

The company also is pursuing LEEDEB certification of the offices by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEEDEB, is a voluntary program that certifies buildings are designed and operated in such a way as to minimize their environmental footprints. The standards recently were amended to include an increased emphasis on green cleaning procedures and products.

To qualification for entry into the LEED certification program, buildings are evaluated in five categories: water