San Diego — One hundred Walmarts in California are now using solar panels to generate power.
San Diego — The Walmart on College Avenue in San Diego has become the retailer’s 100th store in California to use rooftop solar panels to generate power. The rooftop solar panels on Walmart’s stores in the state are part of the company’s goal to be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy.
Walmart’s solar energy is installed with a California-based company, SolarCity.
The retailer anticipates that its combined solar efforts in California will generate up to 70 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy per year; the equivalent of powering more than 5,400 homes. The solar initiatives also provide between 10 to 30 percent of each store’s total electricity needs.
“By using one of California’s greatest resources — sunshine — and employing renewable technology with our California-based partners, we will continue developing solutions that are bot good for the environment and good for business,” says Kimberly Sentovich, senior vice president of the Pacific Division for Walmart.
Walmart expects to have 130 California stores with solar roof panels by the end of 2013, more than 75 percent of the retailer’s stores in the state.