The 8.4 MW array will be housed across three Caesars properties and will mark significant progress towards the company’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 100% before 2050.
DSD Renewables and Caesars Entertainment have announced the groundbreaking of an 8.4 MW solar portfolio spanning three Caesars properties in Atlantic City, New Jersey, all of which are set to be completed by the end of 2022.
The 8.4 MW portfolio is comprised of two solar canopies (1.7 MW and 886 kW) at Caesars Atlantic City, two canopies (1.93 MW and 1.94 MW) and a 913 kW rooftop system at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City, and a 1.01 MW canopy at the Tropicana Atlantic City. The installations will also bring quality of life improvements to each of the properties they are installed on, reducing snow removal costs, providing shading for staff and customers, reducing the heating costs of Harrah’s Resort, and extending the roof lifespan at Harrah’s.
“We are excited to break ground on our new solar panel portfolio today at Tropicana, Caesars, and Harrah’s Resort – a critical step in our CodeGreen strategy in Atlantic City region,” said John Koster, Regional President for Caesars Entertainment’s Eastern Division. “Our Caesars Entertainment Atlantic City resorts are committed to being leaders in environmental sustainability, as we work toward reducing our environmental footprint and aim to create more clean energy in the market.”
DSD will serve as long term owner and operator of the systems, and will fully develop and finance the installations. DSD and Caesars Entertainment are exploring solar projects located at other Caesars destinations across California, Illinois, Maryland, and Nevada, as Caesars, under its CodeGreen strategy, has a stated goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 100% before 2050.
The gaming industry is no stranger to embracing renewable energy, specifically solar, though capacity additions on the gaming front have namely come out of Nevada. In 2016 MGM Resorts completed an expansion of the solar project on the roof of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center to 8.3 MW, as the largest contiguous rooftop solar array in the United States. A few years later, in 2021, MGM activated the 100 MW Mega Solar Array, a project that supplies power to 13 of its Las Vegas strip properties.
The resort giant said the array is capable of providing 90% of its daytime energy needs. This equates to about 35% of total energy use by buildings that typically have significant nighttime demand.
The Invenergy-developed project is structured through a 20-year power purchase agreement. Earlier this year, Invenergy sold 75% of its stake in the project to AEP Renewables, a unit of Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power.
The 323,000-module system sits on 640 acres of land 30 miles north of Las Vegas. MGM said the location was selected with attention to environmental impacts on landscape and biodiversity in the location.
