Eight new solar installations recently went live at Walmart stores across Massachusetts.
The installations totalled almost 10,000 solar panels and will generate 2.8 million kWh of electricity each year – saving over 1,400 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, which is about equivalent to taking 309 cars off the road.
“The stores in Massachusetts demonstrate our commitment to increasing the share of renewable energy that powers our stores and improving energy efficiency,” said David Ozment , senior director of energy at Walmart, at an event at Walmart’s store in Walpole, MA.
“We believe in helping our customers live better by providing every day low cost and more environmentally friendly alternatives, like renewables. It’s our goal to eventually be supplied by 100 percent renewable energy.”
Credit: Walmart
The system at the Walpole store is owned and operated by MA-based Greenskies Renewable Energy; Walmart has a power purchase agreement with Greenskies to buy the energy generated by the system.
“Governor Patrick’s leadership and our remarkable success in energy efficiency and solar energy have placed Massachusetts at the head of the clean energy revolution,” said Department of Energy Resources Commissioner Mark Sylvia .
“Investments from business leaders like Walmart have helped the Commonwealth meet our 250 megawatt solar goal four years early and earn the #1 national ranking in energy efficiency two years in a row.”
The United States’ EPA Green Power Partnership program ranked Walmart as the number one on-site green power generator/consumer in the U.S. in 2013. The retail giant gets about 4 percent of energy from renewable systems at Walmart sites; another 17 percent of all electricity consumed is renewable but supplied by the grid.
