General Motors recently installed 150-kilowatt ground-mount solar arrays to its processing center in Swartz Creek and engine plant in Flint. The arrays are expected to generate a total of 400,000 kilowatt hours of renewable energy per year to the facilities’ grids, which is equivalent to the annual energy use of 25 homes.

"Not only does it reduce our emissions and lessen our dependence on petroleum, it makes a statement about the role businesses can play in securing a cleaner energy future," said Rob Threlkeld, GM global renewable energy manager, in a recent statement.

After GM completes the projects this fall, the company will house more than 38 megawatts of solar power at 13 facilities around the world and more than 60 megawatts of renewable energy globally when combined with its landfill gas and biomass energy use. The new installations will bring the automaker closer to reaching its goal to increase renewable energy use globally to 125 megawatts by 2020.

GM’s other U.S. solar installations include:

• A 1.8-megawatt installation at Toledo Transmission, Ohio’s largest rooftop array.

• A 1-megawatt array at its Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. distribution center, the nation’s first 1-megawatt public solar project.

• A 516-kilowatt installation at Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, Michigan’s largest ground-mount solar array.

• A 900-kilowatt rooftop array on its Fontana, Calif. parts distribution warehouse.

• A 350-kilowatt ground-mount array at Orion Assembly in Lake Orion, Mich.

• A 49-kilowatt ground-mount array at GM’s Technical Center in Warren, Mich.