Low site coverage is your phrase, not ours. CQR describes its assets as being in strategic locations with high visibility, convenient access and low site coverage. That is a portfolio-wide description of a lot of sealed, flat, unbuilt land sitting in front of 44 supermarkets. It is the last surface on these centres that can carry generation.
What the canopy does for the asset
Generation at the point of load
Where the constraint is substation capacity and space, adding supply behind the meter is worth more than adding import. Paired with the storage CQR is already installing, a canopy defers the network upgrade rather than waiting on it.
Solar past the suitable-roof limit
Seventy-two per cent of centres with suitable roof space already have an array, and capacity went backwards on divestment before recovering. The canopy is not constrained by roof structure, roof age or roof plant.
It moves the Scope 3 number
CQR has committed to halving downstream tenant emission intensity by 2030 against FY22, and 80% of the group's onsite solar already supplies tenants. Canopy generation sold behind the meter to the majors is the same mechanism, at a larger scale.
Shade that lifts the centre
Covered parking is a visible shopper amenity: protection from sun, heat and hail, a better arrival, and support for dwell time, foot traffic and tenant retention across a portfolio taking 130 million visits a year.
Built for Charter Hall's own targets
CQR has operated at net zero Scope 1 and 2 since 1 July 2025, delivered through onsite solar, the ENGIE renewable supply agreement and nature-based offsets, with the group stating an intent to reduce its dependency on those offsets. Group-wide the target is 110 MW of solar by 2030 against 86 MW at FY25, and the stated route is logistics development plus the existing portfolio. Onsite generation is what closes both gaps: it displaces offsets in the CQR position and it adds megawatts to the group number.
The constraint Charter Hall has published is specific. EV charging at eight centres and 70 bays came in behind target because of asset sales and the capital required to upgrade substation infrastructure at assets with limited space. Battery storage has grown faster than solar, from 11.3 MWh at six sites to 14.7 MWh at eight in six months, with more applications in progress. A car park canopy generates on the site that consumes, on land the centre already holds, and it turns that storage from a network asset into a solar asset.
Drawn and priced on your own car parks
These are not desktop guesses. Each canopy below was drawn to scale on the site's actual car park and priced through our engine. Figures are preliminary, ex-GST, subject to site assessment. Across these 3: 8.4 MWp, about 11.3 GWh a year generated on site, for roughly $14.7M of base scope.
Salamander Bay SquareSalamander Bay, NSW
Prelim PP-CH-001
3.61 MWpSystem size
~5.05 GWh/yrGenerated on site
15,006 m²Canopy coverage
4,644Solar modules
$6.22MBase scope, ex-GST ($1.72/W)
$6.61MWith EV charging, ex-GST
Held 50.5% by CQR and 49.5% by CPRF, so the canopy would be scoped and staged to match the ownership structure.
Gateway PlazaLeopold, VIC
Prelim PP-CH-002
3.40 MWpSystem size
~4.25 GWh/yrGenerated on site
14,147 m²Canopy coverage
4,382Solar modules
$5.88MBase scope, ex-GST ($1.73/W)
138Structural columns
Held 50% by CQR and 50% by CPRF. EV charging is not in this price and can be added.
Singleton SquareSingleton, NSW
Prelim PP-CH-003
1.40 MWpSystem size
~1.96 GWh/yrGenerated on site
5,814 m²Canopy coverage
1,834Solar modules
$2.56MBase scope, ex-GST ($1.83/W)
66Structural columns
EV charging is not in this price and can be added.
Base scope is the canopy structure, install, civil, lighting, safety and engineering. EV charging is shown as an option. Site transport, trenching and battery are not included and can be added.
Proven with the retailers in your centres
Canyon Solar factory-builds solar canopies that turn large car parks into onsite power generation and shade. We have delivered them for Woolworths, across six sites, and for IGA, AstraZeneca and CSIRO. The canopy below sits over a supermarket car park, the same convenience format that anchors CQR's portfolio.
IGA Baranduda, VIC. A Canyon Solar delivery.
The Grand Canyon
For the main lots, the standout design is the Grand Canyon: a continuous, full-coverage canopy with no gaps over the driving lanes. It gives the highest solar density in our range and a clean roofline that makes the car park look like a designed part of the centre, not an afterthought.
Grand Canyon, a continuous full-coverage canopy with integrated battery and EV charging.
The rest of the portfolio at a glance
Beyond the centres drawn above, we screened the convenience portfolio for supermarket-anchored centres with large at-grade car parks. Together the 44 centres represent roughly 47.2 MWp and $97-115M of indicative solar canopy, a programme that can be staged centre by centre. CQR does not publish lettable area asset by asset, so these are class-based estimates and each one is confirmed on aerial before it is priced.
| Site | Location | Anchors | System | Indicative |
|---|
| Salamander Bay Square Drawn & priced | Salamander Bay, NSW | Woolworths, Coles, Kmart | 3.61 MWp | $6.22M |
| Singleton Square Drawn & priced | Singleton, NSW | Woolworths, Coles, Big W | 1.40 MWp | $2.56M |
| Gateway Plaza Drawn & priced | Leopold, VIC | Coles, Aldi, Kmart, Bunnings | 3.40 MWp | $5.88M |
| Bass Hill Plaza Desktop | Bass Hill, NSW | Woolworths, Aldi, Kmart | ~1.40 MWp | $2.8-3.5M |
| Bateau Bay Square Desktop | Bateau Bay, NSW | Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, Kmart | ~1.40 MWp | $2.8-3.5M |
| Carnes Hill Marketplace Desktop | Horningsea Park, NSW | Woolworths, Big W | ~1.40 MWp | $2.8-3.5M |
| Dubbo Square Desktop | Dubbo, NSW | Coles, Kmart | ~1.40 MWp | $2.8-3.5M |
| Eastgate Bondi Junction Desktop | Bondi Junction, NSW | Coles, Aldi, Kmart | ~1.40 MWp | $2.8-3.5M |
| Goulburn Square Desktop | Goulburn, NSW | Coles, Kmart | ~1.40 MWp | $2.8-3.5M |
| Highlands Marketplace Desktop | Mittagong, NSW | Woolworths, Big W | ~1.40 MWp | $2.8-3.5M |
| Rockdale Plaza Desktop | Rockdale, NSW | Woolworths, Aldi, Big W | ~1.40 MWp | $2.8-3.5M |
| Tamworth Square Desktop | Tamworth, NSW | Coles, Kmart | ~1.40 MWp | $2.8-3.5M |
| Campbellfield Plaza Desktop | Campbellfield, VIC | Coles, Aldi, Kmart | ~1.40 MWp | $2.8-3.5M |
| Corio Village Desktop | Corio, VIC | Coles, Kmart, Woolworths | ~1.40 MWp | $2.8-3.5M |
| Lansell Square Desktop | Kangaroo Flat, VIC | Woolworths, Coles, Kmart | ~1.40 MWp | $2.8-3.5M |
| Arana Hills Plaza Desktop | Arana Hills, QLD | Coles, Aldi, Kmart | ~1.40 MWp | $2.8-3.5M |
| Bribie Island Shopping Centre Desktop | Bongaree, QLD | Woolworths, Target | ~1.40 MWp | $2.8-3.5M |
| Albany Plaza Desktop | Albany, WA | Coles, Aldi, Kmart | ~1.40 MWp | $2.8-3.5M |
| Esperance Boulevard Desktop | Esperance, WA | Woolworths, Kmart | ~1.40 MWp | $2.8-3.5M |
| South Hedland Square Desktop | South Hedland, WA | Coles, Kmart | ~1.40 MWp | $2.8-3.5M |
The table shows the 20 largest of 44 screened sites. A further 24 are sized in the full screen and available on request.
Desktop figures are derived from site area or lettable area and are indicative only. Drawn-and-priced figures come from a scaled layout and our pricing engine. All subject to site assessment.
Any site, in minutes
The centres above took minutes each. We can do the same for any site in the portfolio, live: draw the canopy to scale on the car park, size it, and price it while you watch. We can also run the full economics on your own inputs, whatever tariff, self-consumption, finance structure or target return Charter Hall wants to test, so the numbers reflect how you assess an investment rather than our assumptions.
How to proceed
Own it (CAPEX)
CQR holds the canopies and all the generation, on a 30-year design life, staged centre by centre across the portfolio. Where an asset is held in joint venture, the canopy is scoped and staged to match the ownership structure.
Hardware as a service (OPEX)
$0 upfront. A service agreement arranged through an independent finance partner; CQR keeps the generation and pays from the savings and revenue.
Every canopy is engineered, factory-built and installed by the team that has delivered 16 projects across three states.
A short working session to confirm the priority centres, validate the layouts on the actual title boundaries, and firm the tariff, tenant supply and network assumptions with Charter Hall's real figures.