SunWorks Inc (SUNWQ)

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Target stores installing solar arrays on their rooftops
By Tom Webb
[e-mail]
POSTED: 03/18/2015 12:01:00 AM CDT
UPDATED: 03/18/2015 12:14:19 PM CDT
Minneapolis-based Target Corp. has signed an agreement to install large solar arrays atop 180 Target stores and distribution centers in 12 states, according to solar-energy company Greenskies Renewable Energy LLC.

The size of those solar arrays will vary, but will average 1,700 panels per location, the solar-energy company said. The 12 states involved include Wisconsin, but does not include Minnesota. The agreement represents about 10 percent of Target's U.S. stores.

When complete, the solar arrays will produce 100 megawatts of electricity, Greenskies said.

Greenskies said it will design, develop, own and maintain the rooftop installations, while Target has agreed to buy 100 percent of the electricity produced "at a fixed and sharply discounted rate for the length of the contract." It added that each solar array should produce between 20 percent to 30 percent of the store's needs.

The Connecticut-based solar-energy provider unveiled the agreement March 6, and said work on rooftop solar installations will begin this spring, with completion scheduled by winter, 2016.

Target's rival Walmart has already moved to place solar installations atop its stores and distribution centers. Walmart said it already has solar energy systems atop 250 of its U.S. stores.

The Greenskies announcement can be found here: http://www.greenskies.com/index.php?cID=372.
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GREENSKIES, TARGET CORP. SIGN 180-STORE POWER-PURCHASE AGREEMENT

Press Release
March 6, 2015

Greenskies Renewable Energy LLC, a Middletown-based solar energy company, said today it has 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 produce an aggregate total of approximately 100 megawatts of electric energy. 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 N.Y. state.
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.
Greenskies is a 7-year-old company that designs, builds and maintains solar photovoltaic systems for corporate and retail clients, municipalities and government agencies, educational institutions and utilities. 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.