Business & Tech

DataScan Unveils $2 Million Solar Array on Rooftop

The Sun provides enough power for the company's data center in the Shiloh Road site.

An Alpharetta-based company's $2 million investment in a solar array on its roof will pay for itself in seven years, company officials told state, local and national elected officials and business leaders of South Forsyth and North Fulton on Tuesday.

DataScan’s solar energy array, the second largest commercial location in Georgia and the largest of any data center in the state, has the capability to capture and convert sunlight to create an estimated 285,500 kWh hours of electricity annually. That's enough electricity for 25 average residential homes. A power plant would need to burn 377,000 pounds of coal or 477 barrels of oil to match that production.

That's not even all of the facility's needs, as it host a data center, one of the heaviest users of electricity. But it will help the company approach its goal of decreasing energy consumption by 10 percent this year.

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DataScan is a subsidiary of JM Family Enterprises. It provides wholesale finance accounting and risk management systems and services, and is one of the largest floor plan inventory verification and vehicle inspection companies in the automotive industry.

"We are a company that takes seriously our role in the community,” said Colin Brown, JM Family’s president and CEO. "And we do that throughout all of our locations."

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The company has 125 employees in Commerce helping Toyota produce vehicles.

"If all of you were smart enough to buy and drive Priuses, and if everybody in the United States were to follow that, we would not import oil," Brown said.

"It's also important to note that if it weren't for the fact that we were in partnership with the state of Georgia, this would not have happened," he said.

Brown said though the company is headquartered in Florida, it does not have any solar arrays installed in that state. Florida doesn't offer incentives, while Georgia does.

"I think it certainly supports our corporate initiatives to be environmentally friendly," said Brent T. Sergot, vice president of DataScan.

"Between state and federal incentives and investments we could make on our own, it made sense to do something like this, make the investment, be friendly to the environment, and at the same time, help ourselves from a power consumption standpoint," Sergot said.

Rep. Tom Price, R-GA, pointed out the company had the largest rooftop array in metro Atlanta and second largest in the state. It shows how the United States can become less reliant on foreign oil sources, he said. Rather than picking winners and losers, providing incentives to businesses can help solve energy needs through conservation, use of available resources and of renewable resources such as wind and solar energy.

"And so this is a shining example right here in our community of how we can expand the use of those renewables," Price said.

Forsyth County Commissioner Todd Levent said installation of the solar array was outstanding and a look into the future.

"I'm glad the state has stepped up and given them incentives to do so," Levent said. "It sounds like something everybody should jump on board with."

The incentives program could mean more jobs for Forsyth and the state, Levent said.

"I'm just glad to see our state has taken the lead on this and hopefully other states will do the same," he said.

He said the company has approximately 200 employees in the Shiloh Road facility. Approximately 150 of the employees are high tech employees. Most of the employees live in North Fulton, Forsyth and some in east Cobb.

Thirteen straight years of being on Fortune magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For is something of which the company executives are proud, along with the work to be environmentally sustainable, Sergot said. It supports the Keep Forsyth Beautiful Campaign with dollars and participation.

DataScan has 500 employees spread across North America in the DataScan business. The company serves 125 customers in technology and services.

JM Family Enterprises, (www.jmfamily.com), founded by Jim Moran in 1968, is a $9.3 billion diversified automotive company ranked by Forbes as the 33rd-largest privately held company in the U.S.


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