(Credit: Giant)The Giant Company is entering into a long-term renewable supply agreement with Constellation to power its Pennsylvania operations, including select stores, fuel stations and perishable distribution centers, with renewable energy. This power purchase agreement (PPA) will procure a total of 80 megawatts of renewable energy. The solar projects, which will be developed by Pine Gate Renewables, are expected to achieve commercial operation between June 2022 and January 2024.
Giant will receive approximately 155 million kilowatt hours of energy per year from the long-term power purchase agreement, with that energy matched by Green-e Energy Certified RECs sourced from renewable facilities located throughout the US.
To simplify the purchase, Giant will use a solution that builds off of the Constellation Offsite Renewables (CORe) retail power product, which enables the development of, and increases businesses’ access to, renewable energy projects by removing the “significant hurdles” associated with traditional offsite PPAs. By combining the simplified contracting and aggregation process of CORe with the commitment and involvement from sustainability-minded companies, Constellation says it is able to offer more customers the ability to “demonstrate their support of large-scale, offsite renewable energy projects.”
Through this agreement, Giant will avoid more than 100,000 metric tons of carbon emissions associated with its energy use annually.
Giant does work in many areas of sustainability, priding itself on “developing a program that enables customers to shop based on personal preferences such as using less plastic, ensuring humane treatment of animals, finding products free from chemicals of concern and much more.”
In June 2020, Giant completed a two-phase solar project at its Carlisle, Pennsylvania, corporate headquarters, which includes a 625kw rooftop solar array and seven-acre pollinator-friendly solar field, enough to generate renewable power for the entire campus.
