Target to Install 100MW of Solar on 180 Stores in 18 Months

Greenskies Renewable Energy LLC, a 7-year-old Connecticut based solar energy company, recently signed an agreement with Target Corp. to install solar arrays on the roofs of 180 Target stores and distribution centers that stretch across the United States from Augusta, Maine, to San Diego, Calif.

When completed, the 180 solar installations will have an aggregate capacity of approximately 100 megawatts of electric power. Though the size of the solar array will vary at each of the retail locations, the average system will consist of 1,700 solar panels.

The Target retail outlets included in the agreement are located in 12 states, Arizona, California, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin, said Andrew Chester, Greenskies’ executive vice-president. The agreement, which was signed in mid-February, also includes two Target distribution centers in Wilton and Amsterdam, N.Y.

Greenskies intends to break ground on projects in Arizona, Maryland and New York this spring, Chester said. All 180 projects are expected to be completed by the winter of 2016.

Under the power-purchase agreement it has entered with Target, Greenskies will design, develop, finance, own and maintain each of the 180 solar installations. Target has agreed to purchase 100 percent of the electricity produced at each of the sites at a fixed and sharply discounted rate for the length of the contract. Each roof-top array will produce between 20 and 30 percent of the total electricity requirements of the retail outlet on which it is built, Chester said.

Completion of the new agreement will increase the total number of solar arrays Greenskies has built on the roofs of Target retail outlets and distribution centers to 238 in 15 states. Those arrays will produce a combined total of more than 122 megawatts of clean electric power for the retail giant.

The company currently has more than 90 megawatts of solar installations in operation plus an additional 1,300 megawatts of solar projects in various stages of development throughout the United States. Solar installations designed and built by Greenskies have now produced more than 35 million kilowatt hours of clean electric power.