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ALZA Corporation Unveils Largest Privately Owned Solar Site In California


WEBWIRE

SPF-1000 to Offset Nearly 1.4 Million Pounds of Greenhouse Gas Annually

Vacaville, CA .— ALZA Corporation’s Vacaville manufacturing facility, [a member of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies], today unveiled a 1-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic solar energy system. The ALZA solar panel field, dubbed SPF-1000, will be one of the largest privately owned commercial solar energy systems of its kind in California.

SPF-1000 will enable the manufacturing plant to produce one-third of the power the plant requires on a high-power-demand summer day. This system is built by SPG Solar Inc., of San Rafael, Calif., and generates the equivalent amount of energy to power 250 homes, as well as offset nearly 1.4 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions annually.

“ALZA remains steadfast in our ongoing commitment to environmental responsibility,” said Henry Esparza, General Manager of ALZA. “We are excited to show off just what this solar field can do and the benefits it will yield for the Vacaville community.”

SPF-1000 uses an active single-axis sun-tracking mechanism to collect the most sunlight per acre of land by orienting the solar panels to the sun as it moves across the sky from east to west throughout the day. The 1-MW field covers approximately 6.5 acres adjacent to the ALZA Vacaville facility. All of the energy generated by SPF-1000 will be used by the Vacaville plant, which operates 24 hours per day.

The solar panel array field will also play an instrumental role in benefiting the surrounding community. Although not tied into the public utility grid, SPF-1000 will reduce the risk of rolling power brownouts in the community by offsetting demands on the power grid.

Parent company Johnson & Johnson has a company-wide goal of reducing its carbon footprint at its facilities nationwide by seven percent by 2010. In addition to the ALZA Vacaville site, Johnson & Johnson has installed solar power systems at a number of other corporate locations, including Janssen Pharmaceutica in Titusville, NJ; Cordis Corporation in Warren, NJ; J&J Consumer in Skillman, NJ; J&J Corporate Headquarters in New Brunswick, NJ; and Neutrogena Corporation in Los Angeles, CA. SPF-1000 is the ninth and largest solar installation for Johnson & Johnson, which brings the total on-site solar power generation to 3.5 megawatts. Currently, Johnson & Johnson is the largest corporate user of on-site solar power.

In 2005, Johnson & Johnson’s California companies were recognized by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for their CO2 reduction initiatives and were presented the Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award for Sustainable Practices. California is home to nine Johnson & Johnson companies.

ABOUT ALZA
As a member of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies, ALZA Corporation currently serves as one of Johnson & Johnson’s West Coast Pharmaceutical Research & Development sites. With a 40-year history of scientific innovation, ALZA’s drug delivery technology has been incorporated in 30 commercialized products sold worldwide. For further information, visit ALZA’s web site at www.alza.com.



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