The project completes the trio of Chick-fil-As piloting the solar-powered microgrids.
Chick-fil-A’s flipped the switch on its third solar-powered microgrid, the final rollout to the company’s three pilot projects.
The Chick-fil-A Quarry Creek microgrid project includes an 81 kWh battery energy storage system (BESS) and a 112 kW solar array consisting of canopy- and ground-mounted modules.
The project is expected to deliver about one-third of the restaurant’s annual energy needs at a 10% discount to grid power.
The Chick-fil-A’s Oceanside location presented unique challenges among the piloted projects. Due to the location’s sloped terrain, SolMicroGrid used ground screws instead of standard concrete-poured footings, a technique designed for rocky slopes.
SolMicroGrid and the franchise owner entered an energy-as-a-service (EaaS) agreement, which means SolMicroGrid is responsible for the installation, operation, maintenance and financing of the system on behalf of Chick-fil-A. EaaS agreements allow businesses to integrate renewable energy into their operations without upfront capital investments by paying for the energy service on either a subscription or a pay-per-use basis.
The microgrid will be used for peak load shaving to reduce spikes that occur, which Stephanie Armistead, a principal program lead on Chick-fil-A’s sustainability team, said can be especially helpful during times such as when the restaurant powers up its appliances each day to get ready for early-morning catering orders and regular restaurant services.
The Oceanside restaurant is the third project completed among a trio of Chick-fil-A locations that are piloting the microgrid project. When Chick-fil-A announced the projects in 2021, the fast-food chain said the pilots would be the first quick-service restaurant chain to deploy microgrids in the country. The chain’s Stockton, California location was the first to deploy the project in 2022, followed by previous projects its restaurant in Santa Rosa, California in 2024.
With all three of the pilot locations’ microgrids operational, each restaurant will evaluate the SolMicroGrid system to measure how well it works, how much it lowers electrical costs, and its overall efficiency and resiliency. The company wants to get between six months to a year’s worth of data from the three locations before rolling out additional microgrids to its other franchise locations.
According to Armistead, the first pilot location in Stockton reduced the restaurant’s power costs by more than 10% while putting 38% clean energy into Chick-fil-A’s portfolio.
“It worked so well that the restaurant’s local owner-operator wasn’t always aware when she was not using traditional power,” Armistead said.
Located in San Diego Gas & Electric’s territory, which receives more sun than the previous projects within PG&E’s service territory, the third location is the only Chick-fil-A microgrid project that does not have a natural-gas generator. The project’s BESS is the largest among the three.
Chick-fil-A, which is the third largest fast-food restaurant in the United States, operates more than 3,000 locations across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.
The chain is among a growing number of fast-food restaurants working to reduce electrical costs and be more sustainable by integrating renewable energy. McDonald’s, for example, is the sole offtaker of a 180 MW solar project in Louisiana. Through just one of its partnerships, nearly 100 Wendy’s locations in Illinois, Massachusetts and New York are enrolled in community solar. More recently, both Wendy’s and McDonald’s restaurants in Illinois subscribed through a different community solar provider to projects in the state.
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