Walmart Expands Solar Initiative in Arizona

BUCKEYE, Ariz., Sept. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Walmart today launched an expansion of its solar initiative in Arizona at its Buckeye distribution center near Phoenix. The distribution center will feature Walmart's largest solar installation to date with over 14,000 solar panels on a 1,000,000 sq. feet building and parking canopies that will produce up to 30 percent of the center's energy needs. The solar panels at the distribution center alone will generate up to 5.3 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy per year, which is the equivalent of powering more than 400 homes and taking equivalent of approximately 600 cars off the road.

Making use of one of the region's most obvious resources, Walmart is expanding its sustainability efforts in Arizona at its Buckeye distribution center, one of Walmart's largest structures. This is the company's second distribution center solar project in Arizona, coming just over a year after 2 MW project in Casa Grande, Arizona, that used a combination of ground mounted and solar shaded parking canopy structures. According to the U.S. Solar Market Insight Report, Arizona ranks third in the U.S. for solar installations.

"Environmental sustainability is an essential ingredient to us for doing business responsibly and successfully," said David Ozment, Senior Director of Walmart Energy. "As the world's largest retailer, our actions have the potential to save our customers money and help substantially reduce our carbon footprint for generations to come."

Given the impressive size of the Buckeye solar installation, the combination of ground mounted, roof mounted, and shaded canopy structures at Arizona distribution centers Walmart will be better positioned to transfer learnings to other Walmart facilities across the country.

"Arizona has established itself as a national and global leader in the solar industry," said Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer. "The fact that Walmart has the vision to recognize the benefits of renewable energy shows great promise for the future of solar in our State."

Since launching its solar pilot program in May 2007, Walmart strengthened its commitment to renewable energy across the country. Currently, Walmart has more than 180 renewable energy projects in operation and development around the world, generating enough energy to power 78,000 American homes annually. These renewable energy projects include solar rooftops, micro-wind on parking lots, biodiesel generators and fuel cells. In fact, the company recently unveiled the addition of a 1MW wind turbine at its Red Bluff distribution center in California, as well as the 100th solar installation in the state. The combined focus on renewable energy in Arizona and across the country contributes to the company's aspirational goal to be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy.

"In person, the solar installation at Walmart's Buckeye distribution center is even more inspiring than it was when Walmart and SolarCity first envisioned it," said Albert Laird, SolarCity Arizona Regional Vice President. "It represents our largest installation on a single building and clearly reflects Walmart's ongoing commitment to renewable energy."

Learn more about Walmart's commitment to sustainability at The Green Room and follow us on Twitter (@WalmartGreen) to get updates about sustainability efforts and milestones. Additional information about our commitment to renewable energy is also available on our website.

About Walmart

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week at over 10,300 retail units under 69 different banners in 27 countries. With fiscal year 2012 sales of $444 billion, Walmart employs 2.2 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting http://corporate.walmart.com, on Facebook at http://facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/walmartnewsroom. Online merchandise sales are available at http://www.walmart.com and http://www.samsclub.com.

Solar Companies Spark Saginaw Array

SAGINAW, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The City of Saginaw has installed a solar array on the roof of its Public Services building. Consumers Energy selected Saginaw to participate in its Experimental Advanced Renewable Program. The program ensures that Consumers Energy will purchase energy generated by Saginaw’s 96 panels for up to 15 years. Each panel is 1 meter by 1.68 meters.

In a competitive bidding process, the City of Saginaw was able to install OPTimus panels powered with Suniva cells, utilizing polycrystalline silicon from Hemlock Semiconductor for its 20 kilowatt array.

“The energy produced by the solar energy system is expected to equal up to 10 percent of the building’s total current energy use,” said Saginaw City Manager Darnell Earley. “In the process we are supporting regional companies that develop key products and services.”

A smaller 4 kilowatt educational display unit will also be installed adjacent to Saginaw City Hall with a new tracker system from SunSteer™, which was developed at Nexteer Automotive’s world headquarters in Saginaw.

“The team at Nexteer relied on our industry leading automotive technologies to develop a product for the renewable energy market that accurately positions solar arrays to follow the sun,” said Vince De Zorzi, senior vice president and chief operations officer at Nexteer. “SunSteer™ is built right here in the U.S., with more than 90 percent U.S. content and greater than 50 percent of its content produced in Michigan, including the Great Lakes Bay Region.”

The Great Lakes Bay Region is creating boundless opportunities for solar supply chain development with anchor companies such as Hemlock Semiconductor, which is the source of a third of the world’s polycrystalline silicon, and global headquarters and multiple manufacturing facilities for Dow Corning and The Dow Chemical Company.

To provide an environment for advanced collaboration and spur supply chain innovation, the Great Lakes Tech Park was developed less than a mile from Hemlock Semiconductor.

“The 231-acre Tech Park has large FREE parcels available for the appropriate project and are shovel ready with new infrastructure,” said Saginaw Future Inc. (SFI) President JoAnn Crary.

Saginaw Future partnered with Thomas Township, County of Saginaw and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to develop the Great Lakes Tech Park. SFI is administering a $100,000 loan from the County of Saginaw to fund a portion of the City of Saginaw’s solar array project.

Established in 1992, Saginaw Future Inc. (SFI) is a public-private alliance of local businesses, the County of Saginaw, City of Saginaw, 14 local municipalities and the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce. SFI’s strategic partners also include education, labor and government. Since its beginning, SFI has remained dedicated to fostering quality job creation through expansion of local industry and attraction of new business projects to the community. www.SaginawFuture.com