The two previous installations at restaurants in Stockton and Santa Rosa have resulted in 30%-40% energy coverage

A Chick-fil-A restaurant in Oceanside, Calif., has completed a microgrid project in partnership with New York City-based SolMicroGrid, marking the quick-service chain’s third such development.

SolMicroGrid leverages solar, on-site battery energy storage, and generators to ensure continuous power to its clients in the event of a power outage. The system for this Chick-fil-A includes an 81-kilowatt-hour battery energy storage system and a 112-kilowatt solar array consisting of a canopy and ground-mounted modules. The project’s components are controlled by an energy management system which optimizes the performance and maximizes the synergies between the technologies, according to SolMicroGrid.

Chick-fil-A initially launched its microgrid test in June 2021 with an objective of saving energy costs and preventing power-related business disruptions. The first test went live in a Stockton, Calif., restaurant, while a Santa Rosa, Calif., Chick-fil-A began piloting the system in April 2024. The third restaurant in Oceanside is owned and operated by Adam Hoffman.

“I’m really excited to see how the SolMicroGrid system performs because other restaurants in our test have seen incredible energy benefits with it,” Hoffman said in a statement. “If it helps us reduce our energy demand, that will preserve our ability to do community promotions, which typically require more power throughout the day.”

How it works

The SolMicroGrid system uses photovoltaic panels that harvest energy on sunny days to run the restaurant or store excess energy in the system’s battery on days, such as Sundays, when restaurants are closed.

At night, when energy costs are cheaper, the system pulls power from the electrical grid and stores it in the battery to be used during peak periods to lower energy costs. The system also captures energy data and decides when to shift from the traditional grid to the microgrid. Meanwhile, a natural gas generator — located away from the restaurant — is activated if the traditional grid experiences an outage, giving the business more security if high winds damage power lines or a heat wave puts too much stress on the existing grid, for instance. Stockton operator April Farage said her energy costs can rise 70% in the summer and unexpected power outages are problematic in that they create uncertainty and cause waste.

Peden Young, a principal program lead for the Chick-fil-A, Inc. Sustainability Team, projects the solar microgrid will cover about one-third of the restaurant’s energy needs. The two previous installations at Chick-fil-A March Lane in Stockton and Chick-fil-A Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa have resulted in 30%-40% energy coverage.

“The solar array at Chick-fil-A Quarry Creek (Oceanside) is a little smaller than the other two, but the batteries are larger, so we’ll get a little less electricity throughout the year, but we’ll see a greater reduction in our impact on the grid.” Young said in a statement.

Chick-fil-A continues to evaluate the results of the three-restaurant pilot. Initial research suggests that California and Hawaii are potential places for additional installations, but there are also areas in the Northeast that could be targeted.
“We already have a list of local Chick-fil-A owner-operators who want to utilize this technology in their restaurants,” Young said. “Our team hopes to move forward wherever there is a good value proposition.”

The solar microgrid test is part of Chick-fil-A’s broader efforts toward environmental stewardship, alongside its Shared Table surplus food donation program, new packaging initiatives, and composting partnerships. Last year, the company teamed up with DAR Pro Solutions to recycle used cooking oil into the manufacture of renewable diesel fuel.

Chick-fil-A was also the first restaurant chain to commit to the U.S. Food Waste Pact, a voluntary agreement launched in late 2023 to help businesses reduce their waste.

Contact Alicia Kelso at Alicia.Kelso@informa.com

Source https://www.nrn.com/quick-service/chick-fil-a-expands-solar-powered-microgrid-test-in-california

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