Toys”R”Us, Inc, the world’s largest retailer of toys, is installing a mammoth 5.38 megawatt rooftop solar farm that the company says will be the largest in North America.
The array will be installed at the company’s distribution center in Flanders, New Jersey and be completed by late this year. Upon completion, the 5.38 megawatt solar power plant will occupy nearly 81,000 square meters and consist of over 37,000 solar panels.
The system is expected to produce approximately 6.36 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year, enough to provide power to 532 homes and to meet 72 percent of the electrical needs of the facility. This level of clean solar electricity generation will avoid an estimated 4,387 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually – the equivalent emissions from 860 passenger vehicles.
Toys”R”Us are not paying for the installation, rather Constellation Energy will build, own and maintain the rooftop solar farm and Toys”R”Us will buy the electricity generated by the system through a 20-year power purchase agreement.
This isn’t the first commercial scale solar power system to be installed on one of the company’s building. In January last year, a rooftop system was installed at the Babies”R”Us in North Brunswick, New Jersey, which currently provides approximately two-thirds of the electricity needs for the location.
Another system to be installed in the immediate future will be at its “R” Superstore in Secaucus, New Jersey that will generate 33% of electricity needs for the location. The company says it is continuing to seek opportunities to integrate solar energy at a number of its locations, including at the corporate headquarters in Wayne, New Jersey.
Jerry Storch, Chairman and CEO of Toys”R”Us, says New Jersey’s favourable solar polices helped pave the way for an installation of this size and highlights the state as a champion for solar energy growth across North America.
Toys”R”Us, Inc. has over 860 stores in the United States, more than 520 international stores and over 200 licensed stores in 33 countries and jurisdictions.
