Kimberly-Clark Installed the First Rooftop Solar System on its Building in Downtown Neenah

Kimberly-Clark Experimental Mill aims to continually develop and provide innovative product and process solutions for the Family Care business sector. For Kimberly-Clark, sustainability is not only the right thing to do, but also a business imperative. Its approach to sustainability is to identify initiatives that generate competitive advantage, improve business relationships and fulfill responsibilities as a member of the global community.

Following that principle, the company installed the first rooftop solar system on the Experimental Mill in the downtown business district of Neenah. This system will generate 195 megawatt-hours of renewable electricity annually, enough to power X-Mill’s lighting, which accounts for 4% of the total plant’s electrical consumption. It is also equivalent to the annual electrical consumption of 26 homes.

With this installation, Kimberly-Clark will reduce its annual greenhouse gas emissions by 134 tons, an important step towards reducing the carbon footprint of its operations by 50%, one of the sustainability goals set out in its 2030 Sustainability Ambition.

X-Mill opened in 1924 and sits on the same grounds as the company’s original facilities when it began operations on October 22, 1872.

“This is the only property that we have from the original days of when we first opened,” said Jessica Lutchen, senior external communications manager at Kimberly-Clark. “It’s super-special to us, and it’s extremely special to the community as well to still have this property and this mill up and running and making improvements to last a lot longer here in the community of Neenah.”

The X-Mill factory has 26 employees and conducts more than 250 product tests annually to support innovations in Kimberly-Clark products such as Kleenex and Cottonelle.

The company saved about $85,000 on the project through Focus on Energy business incentives and federal tax cuts. The installation investment and payback period were not disclosed.

“It’s really not much about the cost savings or our incurred costs or the payback,” told Scott Nelson, senior research and engineering manager at Kimberly-Clark and facility leader at the X-Mill. “It’s really more about reducing our overall carbon footprint.”