ASICS doubles the solar on Mississippi distribution center

PowerFlex completed a second rooftop solar project for ASICS, a a maker of athletic footwear, apparel and accessories, at its distribution center in Byhalia, Mississippi.

The new 1 MW rooftop installation doubles the total solar generated power to 2 MW, which powers the building load and sends excess generation back to the grid through a net metering arrangement with Northcentral Electric.

Northcentral electric is a member-owned electric distribution cooperative serving nearly 35,000 meters in four counties in Mississippi. The ASICs project is the largest solar array on the coop’s grid.

The project was constructed in three months with minimal disruption to business, PowerFlex reports. The additional 1 MW of solar is projected to provide $100,000 in energy savings in the first year, with the environmental benefits of the combined systems estimated to offset the electricity of around 290 households annually.

“As ASICS continues towards a goal of reducing our overall CO2 emissions by 63% by 2030, today’s announcement is a strong step forward,” said Kyle Koestler, Director of Operations, ASICS North America. “The PowerFlex team were great partners in helping seamlessly complete the second rooftop solar project without disrupting our day-to-day business at the distribution center.”

PowerFlex, an EDF Renewables affiliate, specializes in commercial rooftop solar and level 2 EV chargers. The company reports that it has 400 MW of commercial solar, 40-plus MWh of energy storage and over 10,000 EV charging stations installed to date. PowerFlex also offers  an onsite intelligent energy management platform that monitors, controls and optimizes onsite clean energy assets. It uses adaptive load management to reduce overall energy costs of the assets, which can include storage, EV charging stations, and more.

PowerFlex was acquired in 2019 by EDF Renewables, as part of EDF’s strategic growth in the distributed energy market. Last year PowerFlex received a $100 million investment from Manulife Investment Management, which gave Manulife IM a minority stake. PowerFlex said at the time that it would use the proceeds of this capital raise to further invest in PowerFlex X, and it would enable the company to accelerate the deployment of onsite solar, storage, and EV charging. The company reports that it has seen increasing customer demand driven by corporate sustainability commitments, individual state renewable portfolio standards and targets, and climate-friendly federal legislation, such as the Inflation Reduction Act.