Home Depot, Hershey's, NRG roll up for 250 MW of solar from National Grid

Minnesota-based National Grid Renewables, part of utility National Grid (NYSE:NGG), has secured three power purchase agreements (PPAs) covering almost the entire output of a 275-MW solar project being built in Texas.

Home improvement retailer The Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) and NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG) will each buy electricity from 100 MW of the capacity through separate contracts. Additionally, chocolate manufacturer The Hershey Company, better known as Hershey’s, has committed to buying power under a 50-MW PPA, National Grid said on Tuesday.

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The three contracts are tied to electricity that will be produced from the Noble solar park in Denton County, which is set to begin operations in the first half of 2022. The plant, to be equipped with First Solar’s Series 6 thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules, will be coupled with 125 MWh of battery storage capacity.

All three deals are in line with the individual clean energy goals of the power off-takers. For Home Depot, this translates into the procurement or production of 335 MW of renewable or alternative energy by 2025, while NRG Energy aims to cut its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 50% by 2030. Hershey’s meanwhile will look to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by more than 50% by 2030.