Shopping Mall Finds It’s Not Always Easy to Go Green

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — With a nod toward Kermit the Frog, it’s not always easy going green, no matter how good one’s intentions.

At least that appears to be the experience of shopping center giant Tanger, which wants to install solar panels on six of the eight buildings at its popular open-air property in North Charleston, South Carolina.

The Greensboro, North Carolina-based company has set a goal for itself of being carbon neutral by 2050.

To reach that goal, the mall operator has established a green leasing program for tenants, invested in renewable energy and improved its environmental data collection, management and reporting processes.

In addition, it has electrified its entire security vehicle fleet, doubled its EV charging capabilities and reduced its overall energy use.

“We are dedicated to reducing our environmental impact, cultivating a people-first employee culture and fostering healthier and more resilient communities in the markets we serve,” said Stephen Yalof, Tanger’s president and CEO, in a press release last year heralding the company’s environmental, social and governance efforts.

The Tanger outlet mall opened in North Charleston in 2006, and the $45 million facility quickly became both a tourist destination and the anchor for an explosion of economic development in the area.

Earlier this year, it filed six grid interconnection requests with the state and Dominion Energy South Carolina, the utility that operates the grid in the area.

Dominion Energy, considering the individual rooftop arrays to be of limited size, immediately deemed them eligible for a “fast-track process” to approval.

But the company reached an unexpected impasse recently when its desire to expand its use of solar power at the site ran up against the state regulations intended to encourage residential adoption of renewable energy.

One of Tanger’s requests — for 200 kW of capacity – was approved for interconnection. The remaining five, however — for 1,710 kW of combined capacity — were rejected.

Known as the S.C. Generator Interconnection Procedures, the rules require electric utilities in the state to set aside 6 MW of circuit capacity on each substantiation transformer for residential customers who generate excess solar power that needs to go back on the grid.

In crafting the regulation, state officials further mandated that the reserve be made available at all times — even if no power is being generated from adjacent homes.

And they require anyone wanting an exemption from the rules to undertake a lengthy and expensive study to prove their proposed solar array won’t negatively affect residential customers.

Currently, residential solar accounts for roughly 10% of the total reserve at the substation that services that mall — roughly 687 kW of power — but there’s no way for Tanger to use any of the other 90% (roughly 5,313 kW of capacity). 

As a result, officially at least, the system around the mall cannot accommodate the additional solar panels.

Last week, the mall operator turned to the South Carolina Public Service Commission, hoping to be granted a waiver to the bureaucratic requirements that have brought its greening of the mall a short car ride from Charleston International Airport to a complete standstill.

In its April 4 filing with the state Public Service Commission, Tanger acknowledges that there’s a logic to the regulatory regime — in theory, at least, the reserved circuit capacity enables residential solar systems to be connected to the grid without utilities having to “conduct a system impact study for each system.”

“The requirement, however, shoots a rabbit with an elephant gun,” the filing says. “Because of the reservation, some substations can interconnect little or no nonresidential solar PV without study under SCGIP.  

“And those studies are likely to show system upgrades are required to interconnect new nonresidential systems that, absent the reservation, would be unnecessary,” it says, adding, “this is true even though there may be limited or no residential solar using the reserved substation capacity.”   

Tanger says, as things stand now, Dominion Energy South Carolina is forced to reserve over 5,300 kW of currently unused capacity on the substation serving the Tanger’s outlet mall in North Charleston.

Because of this capacity reservation, Tanger’s request to add solar panels appears, on paper, to create voltage issues that don’t really exist.

Nevertheless, “this means requests to interconnect solar PV are likely to be subject to a fulsome study under SCGIP,” the filing says. “And the study is likely to show Tanger must fund system upgrades that have no meaningful purpose — because they will be required to shore up Dominion Energy’s system for small solar systems that do not exist and are not likely to exist in the future.”  

Tanger wants the state Public Service Commission to grant it “a limited, public interest waiver to the substation capacity reservation.”

The request states that an exemption would be in the public’s interest because the current rules are causing the mall owner and potentially other interconnection customers undue hardship, and that the reserved capacity “is no longer necessary” at the substation in question.

Tanger also referred to the oft-stated desire of the South Carolina General Assembly to reduce “regulatory and administrative burdens to customer-generators like Tanger.”      

When the Public Service Commission will act is currently anybody’s guess.

“At the moment, a hearing has not been scheduled,” said commission spokesman Rob Bockman in an email to The Well News. 

“But as this docket was opened just last week, that may change,” he said.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue