Walmart Expands Renewable Energy Purchases, Installations, Will Install Hundreds Of More EV Chargers
April 19,2018
In announcing various sustainability initiatives, Walmart discussed recent progress in renewable energy procurements that will move it closer towards its 2025 goal of being supplied globally with 50 percent renewable energy.
As a result of several new solar and wind projects, Walmart plans to more than double the amount of renewable energy it uses in the U.S. and increase the percentage of global electricity needs supplied by renewable sources above the current 28 percent.
The new initiatives include expansion of on-site solar energy installments. Walmart, which said that it is already the leading company in the U.S. for number of locations utilizing on-site solar energy, plans to add an additional 130 sites which will bring its total to approximately 500 locations across 22 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, surpassing its 2014 goal to double its onsite solar use by 2020.
Walmart also recently reached an agreement to acquire renewable energy that will enable the building of two new large-scale wind farms developed by Geronimo Energy and Engie. The 1.26 billion kWh produced annually from this arrangement will be equivalent to the majority of the electricity needed to power Walmart stores, Sam’s Clubs and distribution centers across seven Midwestern states.
Additionally, earlier this month Walmart announced that it had collaborated with Google and Georgia Power on an initiative that will result in the retailer obtaining 182 million kWh of additional renewable energy annually.
Cumulatively, various new solar and wind projects will provide over 1.6 billion kWh of renewable energy annually to Walmart, doubling Walmart’s renewable energy use in the U.S. and moving it closer towards its 2025 goal of being supplied with 50 percent renewable energy.
Walmart also announced plans to more than double its EV charging station sites with the addition of several hundred charging stalls across its operations in 34 states. This expansion will bring Walmart’s total number of charging units to well over 1,000 when complete, which the company said will make Walmart one of the nation’s leading EV charging station hosts and creating a national grid of electric vehicle charging availability at hundreds of Walmart stores and Sam’s Club locations.
Several of the new units will feature super-fast chargers that can charge a car in between 10 to 30 minutes. "This initiative is part of Walmart’s continuing evolution to help busy families and create a more resourceful and enjoyable one stop retail experience that allows customers to charge their vehicles as they shop," the company said