Paying for energy projects is a persistent barrier especially in the retail sector. The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), with funding support from the Commercial Buildings Integration program, has developed a financial management program that targets retailers and supports their efforts to reduce energy consumption across their portfolios by addressing barriers to project financing. RILA has developed a number of case studies showcasing retailer best practices project financing. The latest in this series highlights The Home Depot.

The Home Depot, a participant in RILA’s energy program and a Better Buildings partner, worked with Edison Energy to identify potential renewable and alternative energy projects, as well as finance options that enabled project expansion while limited pressure on internal budgets. Solar, wind power, and fuel cell technologies were chosen as the most viable options based on evaluation of the company’s physical portfolio. The Home Depot deployed more than 15 MW of onsite solar on 50 stores across five states and the District of Columbia in 2017 and executed an additional 62 MW of utility-scale wind transactions in Texas (50 MW) and Mexico (12 MW), which is equal to the annual power usage of approximately 95 stores.