Yuasa Battery, Inc.
Situation:
Yuasa Battery, Inc. is the number-one power sports battery provider in North America. It participates in a highly competitive business in an environmentally challenged category. Therefore, the prospect of engaging in a renewable energy project at no capital cost that would also reduce Yuasa’s overall energy cost structure was very appealing.
Complication:
Yuasa did not believe a typical solar vendor had the energy knowledge needed for this specialized project. It needed a partner that understood the battery business and had the ability to integrate the solar energy into the battery storage units, which requires more process steps than a standard solar system. Yuasa also had an additional challenge in the structural nature of its headquarters – an older building featuring many different additions, resulting in a very non-standard rooftop.
Solution:
Having previously worked with the Tangent management team, Yuasa was impressed with their skills and broad knowledge of energy technology, including battery storage systems.* Unlike vendors who are often tied into a single solution or manufacturer, Tangent was able to source different types of racking systems and provided a blended solution that fit Yuasa’s structural needs.
Next Steps:
- Tangent is providing an energy efficiency technology platform that will enable Yuasa to realize further savings by not only reducing energy usage, but also by lowering the retail price of energy.
- Discussions on how to integrate Yuasa’s battery storage technology into future Tangent projects.
Key Success Factors:
- Energy Expertise: Because Tangent is an energy company first, it was able to get Yuasa comfortable with how the solar solution would integrate into its enterprise energy system — in a way that solar vendors could not.
- C&I Heritage: Yuasa appreciated Tangent’s business-savvy approach to energy — especially when it came to structuring a PPA that addressed international considerations in a way that worked for both Yuasa and its Japanese parent company.
The project was financed in part by a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Commonwealth Financing Authority.
*The original plan to integrate solar and battery storage was eventually revised into a standalone solar project.