Walmart will install a 1 MW wind turbine at its distribution center in Red Bluff, Calif., with a $5.5 million loan from Seminole Financial Services.
The project, located about 120 miles northwest of Sacramento, is expected to provide about 25 percent of the distribution center's electricity, Seminole said. The single turbine will be installed by the end of July.
The Walmart Red Bluff installation marks Seminole Financial Services' eighth wind financing project with Foundation Windpower, a company that builds and maintains turbines at no cost to businesses and sells them back the electricity at prices below utility rates.
Foundation Windpower operates a project at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Fairfield, Calif., which supplies about 10 percent of the plant's electricity, as well as a turbine at a Teichert Aggregates plant in Vernalis, Calif. Foundation also manages and operates a turbine at the Inland Empire Utility Agency's water recycling facility in Cucamonga, Calif.
Walmart has a number of renewable energy projects located at facilities in Texas and California. The company's facilities in those states have the No.1 spot on the EPA's Green Power Partnership ranking of the country's top on-site green power generators. According to the EPA's data, Walmart generates 114,909,088 kWh of green power from biogas, solar and wind resources, about four percent of its total electricity use.
The company's Texas and California buildings jumped from the 15th to third-place spot earlier this year in the Green Power Partnership ranking of the country's top green power purchasers. The facilities are also ranked No. 2 among the top 20 retailers, according to the EPA.
Walmart also has added renewable energy projects to sites outside of the US. Walmart Canada built a fresh food distribution center two years ago that includes hydrogen fuel cells, solar thermal and wind power.
Photo of wind turbines from Walmart