Walmart expands solar installations to Ohio

Walmart has announced that it has worked with SolarCity to install solar panels on 12 Walmart Stores and Sam's Clubs throughout Ohio. The solar panel installations will add approximately 6,000,000 kWh of generation production - enough energy to power more than 820 homes - and are expected to supply approximately 5-20 percent of each store's overall electricity use.

"Solar power makes sense for Walmart, and it makes sense for Ohio," said David Ozment, Walmart Senior Director of Energy. "We are committed to increasing the use of renewable energy resources, including solar panels, at our stores in Ohio and throughout the country."

"Walmart's installation of solar on 12 store rooftops is the largest solar commitment ever made by a retail business in Ohio," said Bill Spratley, Executive Director of Green Energy Ohio.

"At more than four and a half megawatts, it represents almost a tenth of all the solar installed in Ohio currently. It is exciting to see that Walmart's solar arrays will also eliminate 5,500 tons of CO2e or the equivalent of taking the emissions of 1,152 cars off the road each year."*

The Walmart and Sam's Clubs receiving solar power systems are located in Mason, Xenia, Greenville, Austintown, Middletown, Franklin, Youngstown, Toledo, Milford, Loveland, and two systems in Cincinnati.

Walmart has an aspirational goal is to be powered 100 percent by renewable energy. The United States' EPA Green Power Partnership program ranks Walmart as the largest onsite green power generator in the U.S.

"Walmart continues to forge new ground as the #1 corporate solar user in America," said SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive. "This project brings SolarCity to the state of Ohio for the first time, and is expected to increase the state's overall solar generation capacity by more than ten percent."