Our commitment to solar energy is clear as day — and we’ve made significant progress toward that promise. Within the past six months alone, we’ve expanded our solar footprint in Massachusetts and installed our 100th rooftop solar panel at a store in San Diego.
That work continues today with the announcement of an expansion of our solar initiative at a distribution center in Buckeye, Ariz., near Phoenix. That solar installation was one of our first in the state, and we’re thrilled that we can take it a bit further. The center will now feature 14,000 solar panels on the roof and parking canopies, which will produce up to 30 percent of the center’s energy needs. The solar production that results from this installation will be significant — up to 5.3 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy per year. That’s equal to the energy needed to power more than 400 homes and removes greenhouse gas emissions equal to taking approximately 600 cars off the road for a year.
This is our second significant solar installation in Arizona. Our distribution center in Casa Grande is equipped with a 2.1-megawatt solar power system, slightly smaller than Buckeye’s system. And Walmart is not the only company using more solar in Arizona. In fact, the state now ranks second in solar installations, behind California. How does your state rank in solar energy availability? Find out here.
Awesome. And you helped the economy by the people needed to build the solar panels and local people to install them. Super cool.
Walmart is taking steps to survive in the Future..Soon their entire roof will be covered with panels.. all their Stores will do this because it Works!!…..Then you can Buy your Power from Walmart in the Future!!
Good for you all! I’m really glad that some corporations are trying to take the lead! I still won’t shop at Walmart but this is good.
Why isn’t the whole massive rooftop covered in them?
Again? Chinese or US made solar panels?
Thanks for your question, Dean. We asked one of our energy experts and here’s the response we got: Generally speaking, we leave the equipment decisions for the materials up to our partners, but according to our wind partner and General Electric, our wind turbine in Red Bluff, Calif. was made in the U.S. The micro-turbines in California, Kansas and Massachusetts have been manufactured domestically, as well, while the Notrees wind farm in West Texas is comprised of Vestas turbines, which come from Denmark. Our solar panels, meanwhile, come from both US and non-US sources.
My question is, what is the carbon foot print in making all of these solar panels?I’m all for solar energy, but at what cost?
Phil, Generally, solar panels produce the equivalent of energy required to make them in about two years, then it’s about 30+ years of remaining lifetime after that. Seen a different way, one study I saw recently said that the PV industry is just now producing a net benefit globally. This is because the industry is ramping up so fast that the number of panels produced every year gets larger and larger, so it’s difficult for the panels in service to catch up to ever-increasing production.