Mitsubishi Electric U.S. Inc. in Cypress plans to ramp up its solar equipment sales by lending a hand to the next generation of independent systems installers and integrators.
The goal is to train a cadre of customers capable of handling bigger, more lucrative projects.
“We want to support some of the small to midsize installers to penetrate the commercial business—especially those who today are doing residential,” said Gina Heng, general manager and vice president of Mitsubishi Electric’s Photovoltaic Division. “We will help them to do the engineering, system design and layout, energy planning and energy modeling…even permitting.”
Mitsubishi Electric, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Electric Corp. in Japan, set up shop in Orange County in the 1980s, some years after the auto brand by the same name—and no corporate relation—established headquarters here.
It’s Photovoltaic Division—which includes the solar panel business—came on line in 2005, and its equipment has recently been part of numerous major solar installations in the area.
The division’s focus on commercial-sector growth is in tune with market data published last week by the Solar Energy Industries Association. U.S. solar energy system installations last year combined for 14.6 gigawatts capacity—enough to power about 2.2 million homes for a year—for an increase of 95% over 2015. The bulk of the work came from utility-scale projects, a sector that added more solar energy capacity last year than the entire market did in 2015.
Some 1.3 million solar photovoltaic system installations have been completed in the U.S. to date with a cumulative capacity of more than 40 gigawatts. The trade association also predicts that number will nearly triple over the next five years, spurred by falling equipment prices and availability of federal and state clean-energy tax credits and rebates.
“The global volume has brought the cost down by about 60% in the last two years,” Heng said. “Not many people are aware of that.”
Mitsubishi Electric’s share of the market is small, she said, adding that its equipment installed globally has capacity of about 400 megawatts—enough for about 70,000 homes—and 85% of those installations are deployed in Japan.
“We consider ourselves a value, niche player,” she said. “We developed the first products in 1974 for the satellite industry and for that kind of environment we had to build high-quality product, because trying to fix [a defect in space] is almost impossible.”
The company’s solar panels have a 25-year warranty and a life expectancy of 40 to 50 years. They are manufactured in Japan, and have among the lowest fail rates in the industry—its half-cut-cell solar panels are more efficient and keep running cool. They are also double-coated and anodized to resist corrosion and have a sturdy frame that can withstand wind and buckling. They come with four-layer junction boxes, a design that prevents arcing, according to Heng.
Malls, Bakery
Mitsubishi Electric’s solar panels, with total capacity of about 2.6 megawatts, will soon be atop parking lot canopies at Westfield Topanga Mall in Canoga Park. It’s also working on a 436-kilowatt project for Coaster Co. of America in Santa Fe Springs.
Heng’s team recently helped 85°C Bakery Cafe go solar at its warehouse in Brea. The 900-store chain uses the panels to power its refrigerators—a first venture into renewable power for the Taiwan-based company.
Mitsubishi also helped Macon, Ga.-based YKK (U.S.A.) Inc. go green for the first time last year. It set up a 521-kilowatt system at the Japan-based zipper manufacturer’s Anaheim facility, offsetting nearly 100% of its energy costs, according to the company.
Mazda North American Operations came on board in 2014 when it chose Mitsubishi solar panels for its research and development center in Irvine. The 314-kilowatt system cut the electric bill there in half, and was financed in part by a federal business energy investment tax credit and a California Solar Initiative rebate, according to the company.
Other recent projects include Port of Long Beach Middle Harbor Terminal’s parking lots, which now have carports capable of generating 904 kilowatts of energy, and a 407-kilowatt system for Allstate Floral in Cerritos. The parking lot canopy at Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc. uses solar panels manufactured by its namesake down the street on Katella Avenue.
Mitsubishi Electric, which employs 400 in Orange County and about 4,000 nationwide, walks the solar talk. It’s supplying about 90% of its energy needs from solar panels installed on its roof last year. The system will pay for itself in five years and save the company about $2 million in electric bills over the next 25 years.
“Mitsubishi Electric is pleased to contribute to the community and environment by producing clean energy with our own solar modules,” President and Chief Executive Kiyoshi Furukawa said at the time. “The system proves that businesses can be both environmentally and financially sustainable.”
Mitsubishi Divisions
The three-building campus totaling 148,046 square feet also serves as corporate headquarters for several other divisions—Elevators & Escalators, Visual & Imaging Systems and Semiconductors. Its Cooling & Heating Division, which specializes in ductless systems, is headquartered in Suwanee, Ga., but has a staff and training facility on the Cypress campus.
Mitsubishi Electric is installing more than 70 elevators and escalators in the South Park area of downtown Los Angeles. Its division recently set up 33 elevators and escalators at L.A. Live, and five elevators at The Broad museum—including a cylindrical, all-glass elevator and a 30,000-pound-capacity freight elevator the size of a large living room. The high-speed elevators can also be found at newcomers to the OC skyscraper scene, the Irvine Company’s two new office buildings at 200 and 400 Spectrum Center Drive in Irvine.
Mitsubishi Electric discontinued its TV line, and has pivoted to data and video walls often found in control rooms around the world, and providing users—utility networks, public transportation agencies or emergency response teams—with “a common operating picture where information from real-time sources such as computers, video, networked applications, CCTV or security cameras may be simultaneously shown and shared.”
Data walls are becoming more popular with fast food restaurants to display menus, Heng said, adding that the Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy’s chain is using Mitsubishi products.
