Sam’s Club Installs On-Site Wind Power

Sam’s Club claims to be the first U.S. retailer to install “a significant number” of on-site micro wind turbines. The retailer installed 17 wind turbines mounted on parking lot light poles at its Palmdale, California location that will supply about three to five percent of the store’s total energy use.

The micro wind turbines, supplied by DeerPath Energy, are estimated to provide 76,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy annually, which is enough to power more than six average American homes for a year. The installation is part of a ten-year power purchase agreement (PPA).

JCPenney has also been testing wind power.

As part of a company commitment to be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy, the completion of this test project adds to parent company Wal-Mart’s other renewable energy projects in the state. These include solar installations at 28 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club sites and fuel cell installations at two Wal-Mart stores in the state. In January, Wal-Mart completed its largest solar installation to date.

Click here for a video on the wind project.

Another recent renewable power project on the west coast is the installation of a 187.95-kW solar-electric system at Rogers Machinery Company’s manufacturing plant in Portland, Oregon.

The solar installation, covering 14,499 square feet of existing roof space, will supply approximately 52.5 percent of the electrical energy needs for the 96,000-square-foot facility.

The solar project, contracted to Solar Nation, is expected to prevent the emissions of 298,283 tons of CO2 over its 25-year life span. This is equivalent to driving an automobile over 4,749,727 miles or the annual CO2 offset of more than 149,141 trees, according to the company.