Sun Stampede: Verizon Investing $100 Million In Solar And Fuel Cells To Become A Power Company

It's a sun stampede and increasingly a fuel cell charge in corporate America. Verizon is the latest to go solar and self-generate. It is investing $100 million dollars in solar and fuel cells at 19 facilities in 7 states
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-30/verizon-to-invest-100-million-on-u-s-solar-and-fuel-cell-plan.html,

Verizon's sustainability executive says on-site generation both cuts carbon emissions and increases reliability. He points out that a Verizon facility with fuel cells remained operational during and after Sandy, even as the grid collapsed around it.

Verizon states that the first step is to build more on-site generation to run "parallel" with the grid, but Verizon is thinking about cutting the chord to the grid for some facilities.  Verizon's on-site power generation will initially produce 70 million kilowatt-hours per year or enough power for 7,000 homes.

Make no mistake about it.  Full independence from the grid and central power stations is where the distributed power generation revolution is headed in about another decade.