Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
The Home Depot Inc. will transform 50 of its stores’ rooftops into mini solar farms, according to a report from the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
In partnership with Current, a subsidiary of General Electric Company, and Tesla, Home Depot will participate in power purchase agreements to install solar panels on store rooftops in the District of Columbia, California, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and New York.
The average Home Depot store is approximately 104,000 square feet and can hold about 1,000 solar panels. By installing rooftop solar farms, Home Depot expects to lower energy demand by up to 35 percent annually for each store. This is equivalent to powering roughly 2,300 average U.S. homes for a year, according to the report.
This focus on solar energy is the latest step Home Depot has taken to explore alternative energy sources. In February, the company invested in a Texas wind farm to offset its energy consumption. The turn toward solar and wind energy is part of the big-box retailer’s mission to utilize 135 megawatts of alternative and renewable energy by 2020.
The company previously invested in solar farms in Delaware and Massachusetts to produce 14.5 million kilowatt hours of power. It has also used fuel cells in more than 170 stores and distribution centers, which produce about 90 percent of the electricity needed to power each site.
