NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) and The Kraft Group have started construction of a futuristic solar canopy, part of a 1 megawatt (MW) solar installation at Patriot Place expected to be completed by the start of the 2012-2013 pro football season.
The canopy will generate clean, renewable power while providing shade and cover for visitors to the shopping, retail and dining destination’s North Marketplace by partially covering the outdoor walkways with a combination of standard and translucent solar panels.
Standard rooftop solar panels will provide additional power, bringing the expected annual output of the solar power system to 1.1 million kilowatt hours, or the equivalent of powering an average household for almost 100 years. Upon completion, 60% of Patriot Place’s electricity use will be provided by solar power, reducing carbon emissions by more than 800 metric tons every year, or the equivalent to taking 575 cars off the road.
Patriot Place is located adjacent to Gillette Stadium—home of the NFL’s New England Patriots and the MLS’s New England Revolution—in Foxborough, Massachusetts. In December 2011, NRG and The Kraft Group announced a comprehensive sustainable energy supply agreement for Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place. NRG will also provide all the additional non-solar power for the nearly 70,000-seat stadium and the more than 1 million square foot retail and entertainment complex.
NRG owns and operates 450 MW of wind power and is the largest solar developer in the United States with more than 900 MW of solar generation in operation or under construction at the end of 2011, and an additional 1,000 MW in development.