Penguin Random House U.S. has completed a landmark solar park at its Crawfordsville site in the U.S. state of Indiana. Covering nearly 65,000 square meters (16 acres) – roughly the size of 12 football fields – the installation comprises exactly 10,656 solar panels. Together, they are expected to generate around 8.5 million kilowatt-hours of clean energy per year, covering more than 60 percent of the annual electricity demand of the U.S. publishing group’s largest distribution center. Just last year, the distribution center was expanded to include a total warehouse area of around 148,000 square meters.
The new solar field officially broke ground on May 19, 2025, and was completed on January 20 of this year. The remaining electricity required for the distribution center is sourced as renewable power from the local utility, Crawfordsville Electric Light and Power (CELP), meaning that 100 percent of the facility’s electricity demand is now covered by renewable energy. According to CELP, the new Penguin Random House solar field is now the largest private solar installation within the 61 member communities of the Indiana Municipal Power Agency (IMPA). It produces six times more power than any other existing solar array and three times more than any solar array currently planned by IMPA.
Annual CO₂savings of 5,960 metric tons
According to Penguin Random House U.S., the new solar field is expected to save around 5,960 metric tons of CO₂ emissions each year. Achieving a comparable environmental impact would require planting approximately 98,500 trees. The amount of electricity generated would also be sufficient to power around 763 households for an entire year. For the company, the project marks an important milestone on the path toward its self-defined goal of reducing the publishing group’s greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030 compared with the 2018 baseline. This goal is aligned with Bertelsmann’s global climate ambitions and the independent Science Based Targets initiative.
