Gorham’s has already generated around $200,000 worth of electricity from its solar panel network at the company’s True Value Home Centre in Pembroke.

Now Alternative Energy Systems (Bermuda) Ltd is pushing ahead with the fourth and largest phase of Gorham’s system, which will more than double its current capacity.

The expansion will add 300 kilowatts of capacity to the 185 kilowatts from the first three phases. At 485 kilowatts of capacity, it will be the largest photovoltaic solar energy system on the Island.

Gorham’s general manager Andrew Mackay explained why the deal made long-term economic sense for the company.

“Since fully commissioning our solar energy system at Gorham’s in 2011, we’ve generated 500 megawatt hours of energy,” he said. “At 40 cents per kilowatt hour this is equivalent to $200,000 worth of energy. As electricity costs continue to rise and we pay off our investment, we will see this investment double, triple and quadruple over time.”

After the expansion is completed, it is estimated that Gorham’s photovoltaic system will generate more than 681 megawatts of energy per year. At today’s energy rates, that is more than $22,700 of electricity per month, or $272,400 per year, which means the system will pay for itself in six years.

Tim Madeiros, AES CEO and founder said: “I commend Gorham’s for taking control of their energy costs and ‘owning their power’. I hope their success and savings will inspire other companies to do the same, especially as electricity costs continue to rise.”

The news will be discussed this evening as part of an AES client appreciation event that will be attended by the Minister of Education and Economic Development, Grant Gibbons and SunPower executives.

SunPower executives are visiting Bermuda to meet with AES, the island’s authorised SunPower dealer.

While here SunPower is also scheduled to hold talks with Government officials and financial executives to discuss, among other things, the recent announcement of its partnership with Google to create a $250 million fund designed to finance residential solar power rooftops, and how that could be leveraged in Bermuda.

Under the leasing program, the SunPower/Google joint venture company will purchase solar panels and lease them for a cost that is typically lower than a customer’s normal electricity bill.

AES is Bermuda’s largest solar energy provider with over 1.2 megawatts in energy-producing solar (+5,000) panels installed or contracted to date. The residential and commercial systems installed by AES since 2008 have generated an impressive 1,744,636 kilowatt hours of energy for Bermuda to date.

At an average of 40 cents per kWh, this amounts to energy value of $709,854.

According to AES, this is the environmental equivalent to eliminating 2.8 million pounds of carbon dioxide, or not importing and burning 3,435 barrels of oil.

The island’s second largest solar photovoltaic system is installed at Gosling’s Ltd and the third largest is installed at Lindo’s Family Foods in Devonshire, both of which were also installed by AES.

For more information, visit AES online at www.aes.bm