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Wal-Mart Aims High with Solar Power Project

May 9, 2007 | 5 Comments

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Bentonville, Arkansas [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. announced a purchase of solar power from three solar power providers, BP Solar, SunEdison LLC, and PowerLight, a subsidiary of SunPower Corporation, for 22 combined Wal-Mart stores.

"Wal-Mart's decision to take advantage of the economic and environmental benefits of solar power and energy efficiency technologies is a great step in the right direction."

-- Ron Judkoff, NREL, director of the Buildings and Thermal Systems Center

The total solar power production from the stores is estimated at 20 million kWh (kilowatt-hours) per year, possibly becoming one of the world's top-10 solar power initiatives in the U.S. when fully implemented.

Wal-Mart will use the power generated by the solar panels onsite at each store and will also keep the Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) the units produce, which is unique among most solar power purchases. Enabling Wal-Mart to maintain ownership of the RECs and its stores' environmental benefits is another important factor in allowing Wal-Mart to reach its goal of being supplied by 100 percent renewable energy.

"Wal-Mart's decision to take advantage of the economic and environmental benefits of solar power and energy efficiency technologies is a great step in the right direction," said Ron Judkoff, director of the Buildings and Thermal Systems Center at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

"As a global business leader, Wal-Mart has chosen to generate clean, renewable solar power at its facilities because it makes good business sense and supports the company's environmental initiatives," said Tom Werner, chief executive officer of SunPower. "SunPower and our PowerLight subsidiary are committed to making solar an affordable, simple choice for businesses."

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5 Reader Comments

Comment
1 of 5

bryan-pratt-50641

May 11, 2007

<div class="commentBody">Homeowners can now choose where their electricity source is generared from. 
 
Homeowners, if you choose to have clean renewable energy for your electricity, your only option no longer is having to purchase a $20,000 - $30,000 solar system : 
 
<a href="http://www.sunfedhomes.com">Home solar system rentals. Pay only for the power generated by the system at the same price per kWh as is on your current bill. Not only that but lock in your current electricity rate for 25 years and have it be from clean solar power.</a> 
 
Want to help get the word out on this breakthrough business model and to help provide clean solar electricity on homes look into REsales: 
 
<a href="http://sales.sunfedhomes.com">Last year the electricity generation business was a $300 billion industry. Lets clean up this industry and break up their monopoly! 
</a> 
 
Hope that's of interest. 

 
Bryan 
</div>

Comment
2 of 5

tennessee-cornstoves-65826

May 11, 2007

Why does WalMart not market solar cells?

Comment
3 of 5

glenn-andersen-47991

May 11, 2007

With energy use a large share of the cost of doing business, maybe more businesses will think about ways to incorporate solar. In the future, perhaps the architecture of commercial buildings could be designed to maximise the amount of roof facing and sloping toward the sun.

Comment
4 of 5

matt-simmons-66024

May 14, 2007

Bryan et al,

CitizenRE does not currently have a facility to produce its own panels, nor does any of the financing for the scheme as it is presented work- you can't figure a payback period for a $30k system (2-3kw, installed) when you're pulling in less than $400 per year (the net worth of the energy generated by that 2-3kw installation).

Combined with its rather shady marketing tactics (like the re-directing site you linked to above), most of the solar industry is pretty wary of this group, and will continue to be until they start actually delivering on the lofty promises they set forth.

Re: the original story, it's definitely welcome news from a company that isn't extraordinarily well known for delivering it.

-Matt

Comment
5 of 5

randy-boerstler-79285

February 3, 2008

I was surprised to learn that Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers in Knoxville, TN have installed a solar panel array on their roof. Glad to see this kind of thing beginning to happen.  <a href="http://homebuilding.thefuntimesguide.com/2008/02/mellow_mushroom_solar_panels.php" target="_blank">Mellow Mushroom solar power</a>Randy @ <a href="http://homebuilding.thefuntimesguide.com/" target="_blank">The Fun Times Guide To Homebuilding</a>

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