Under the Opex Financing Model, Decathlon has installed a solar power plant.
Decathlon S.A. in line with the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals, SDG 7 and SDG 13 is committed to the cause of sustainability while remaining true to its primary purpose of making the benefits and pleasure of sport accessible to the many. The company has achieved a 2.5% reduction in carbon
intensity per product sold in 2018, has extensive plans to procure 100% renewable electricity by 2026 for all its stores and warehouses, and also
support its industrial partners in the journey of becoming a RE100 company. The company also plans to introduce 100% eco-friendly and eco-designed products by the year 2021. Therefore it does not come as a surprise when one of their newest retail store in Enikepadu, Vijayawada decided to go solar and install a grid-connected rooftop solar power plant to meet electricity requirements and offset a major chunk of their utility bills from clean solar power.
The capacity of the grid-connected rooftop solar power plant installed at Decathlon Vijayawada is 200 kWp, has been constructed
using Tier 1 solar company Trina Solar’s premium quality 330 Wp poly-crystalline solar PV modules totaling 606 nos., 1 no. each of 50 kW and
60 kW high-efficiency SUNGROW on-grid solar inverters enabled with Trinity Touch Data Logger Monitoring System and highest quality Balance of
system (BoS) including cables, safety lifelines to carry out risk-free post-installation O&M activities along with other essential safety equipment, etc. This state-of-the-art solar power plant was set up under U-Solar’s OPEX financing model, wherein the entire cost of Engineering, Procurement, and Commissioning of the plant is managed by U-Solar while Decathlon Vijayawada reaps the benefits of clean and inexpensive solar power by entering into a long term PPA with a tenure of 20 years. With the installation of this solar power plant, Decathlon Vijayawada has successfully managed
to offset 40% of its monthly electricity bills.
The picture below illustrates the environmental impact of the 200 kWp grid-connected rooftop solar power plant,
Decathlon is one of the most easily recognizable brand names when it comes to sports equipment, today. The French sporting goods retailing giant now has over 1000 stores in nearly 50 countries, making it the largest sporting goods and equipment retailer in the World. Since its inception in 1976, Decathlon has created over 25 brands of sporting equipment across various sports categories, which have now become household brand names across the World. The company files up to 40 patents every year in developing innovative new products for its owned brands and employs more than 85,000 people worldwide which goes to show that product innovation and community development are at the heart of everything that Decathlon does as a company.
As the World gears up to make a paradigm shift towards renewable energy, sustainability is at the center of every decision taken by leaders of some of the largest organizations. In this sense, Decathlon is leading the way in terms of renewable energy adoption, primarily from solar for their numerous stores and warehouses across the globe. The potential environmental and social impact Decathlon can make by making the important switch to clean and green solar power is immense and the future generations will benefit immensely from their positive and proactive decisions taken today.
Written by Bharat Barki
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