Target aims to run all its U.S. stores on wind, solar by 2030

摘要

Target plans to run its U.S. stores on 100% renewable power by 2030. The retail giant currently sources 22% of its electricity for domestic operations from wind and solar and had previously set a goal of 60% renewables by 2025. This week's announcement expands on that goal. Despite what may seem like a daunting jump, energy goals like Target's are generally attainable, said Wade Schauer, director of power and renewables research at Wood MacKenzie. But the technicality of being 100% renewable often gets lost in what Schauer referred to as "a bit of an accounting game." "One entity in a large power grid can be 100% renewable quite easily at the annual level," Schauer said, but balancing the grid on the hourly level is more complicated. Because wind and solar farms don't produce consistent amounts of energy from day to day, companies sometimes have to turn to nonrenewable sources for power. On the flip side, renewable farms will often generate excess energy, which gets reallocated to the grid. If, by the end of the year, the company has used as much energy as it has generated, it can "check the box" of being 100% renewable, Schauer said.