PepsiCo in Cork completes solar panel project

Installation will provide 100% of the site's electricity needs during the summer months

Randall Lovorn, SVP and GM, PepsiCo Global Concentrate Solutions, Michael McGrath TD, Minister for Finance, Vince Goggin, Site Lead - Manufacturing Director and The Tánaiste, Micheál Martin TD pictured at the PepsiCo facility in Carrigaline, Co. Cork. Picture: Clare Keogh

PepsiCo has completed work on what is the country's largest rooftop solar panel installation at its facility in Carrigaline in Cork. 

Over the course of a year, the solar panels will provide 25% of the electricity required by the site. During the summer months, they will have the capacity to provide 100% of the site's electricity needs.

More than 4,500 individual solar panels make up the installation. The project began last year and was completed in April 2023. 

The development coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Carrigaline facility opening, nearly 50 years after PepsiCo’s Little Island facility opened in 1974. The facility in Carrigaline employs more than 300 people.

Unveiling the sola panel project on Friday, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said it is great to see companies like PepsiCo leading by example in relation to climate change. "The food and beverage sector is a vital part of the Irish economy and I would like to acknowledge PepsiCo’s ongoing commitment to investing significantly in its Irish operations, supporting high-quality manufacturing and jobs, as it marks the 20th anniversary of this facility here in Carrigaline," he said.