Walmart said it contracted with Nexamp to serve as an anchor tenant to support 129 MW of community solar projects in New York.
The retailer is subscribing to a share of each of 23 Nexamp solar farms across New York and will receive energy credits, equivalent to approximately 50 MW of the entire portfolio. Walmart has 36 stores and one distribution center participating in the program.
Walmart set a goal in 2020 to target zero emissions by 2040 across its global operations and aims to use renewable energy to power all of its facilities with renewables by 2035. The company said that 36% of its operations worldwide are powered with renewable energy. As of the end of 2020, Walmart had more than 550 onsite and offsite projects in operation or under development in eight countries, 30 U.S. states, and Puerto Rico.
In March, Nexamp closed a $440 million senior secured credit facility for a 380 MW portfolio of solar and energy storage assets. The portfolio covers five states and includes some 100 community solar projects, including energy storage capacity totaling 120 MWh. MUFG Union Bank served as the lead arranger for the syndicated financing, which included a group of lenders. At the time, Nexamp said it has nearly 300 new solar and storage projects in its development pipeline.
And in April, Sol Systems said it completed solar energy systems totaling 6.5 MW at seven Walmart stores in California. The portfolio included a mixture of solar energy systems installed on rooftops and parking lot carports. Total development cost was around $10 million, and Bank of America served as a tax equity partner. The retail outlets will take all of the energy. Interconnection approvals involved four separate utilities.
The fixed-axis solar arrays power stores in Burbank, Calexico, North Highlands, Perris, Placerville, Sacramento, and Wasco. The portfolio was developed by Sol Customer Solutions, a unit of Sol Systems, a joint-venture with global infrastructure investment firm Capital Dynamics. REC was the construction subcontractor. Trina supplied the modules and the inverters were sourced from CPS.
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“Walmart has 36 stores and one distribution center participating in the program”. Does “participating” in any way involve placing solar PV panels on the roof or the property of these 36 stores and a distribution center? If not, why not?
The press release said that Walmart would be taking part in community solar and made no mention of adding rooftop capacity at the retailer’s locations.
All those Walmart flat roofs and huge paved parking lots and yet “environmentally conscious” Walmart will use potential farmland, like what you have pictured, for their solar power source. Save those off-location solar PV installations for those that do not have suitable sites of their own.