Walmart is not only expanding its dependency on alternative energy sources, but customers can expect to see more of those EV charging stations at hundreds of stores nationally.
The company said it is doubling the number of EV stations and will add several hundred charging stalls at its operations in 34 states.
“This expansion will bring Walmart’s total number of charging units to well over 1,000 when complete, making Walmart one of the nation’s leading EV charging station hosts and creating a national grid of electric vehicle charging availability at hundreds of Walmart stores and Sam’s Club locations,” stated the company in Wednesday’s announcement.
The firm said the charging station expansion will allow customers to charge a car in between 10 to 30 minutes while they are shopping. The company plans to use what it called “super-fast” chargers.
The announcement was part of the company’s claim that it has reduced more than 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions through its Project Gigaton initiative which was launched one year ago. The company has a goal of reducing emissions by one billion metric tons by 2030.
The announcement came at Walmart’s annual Sustainability Milestone Summit where expanded commitments on solar and wind power were also discussed.
“In its first year, Project Gigaton has helped to inspire action that has led to the avoidance of millions of metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions and has expanded into an international campaign that includes the participation of several hundred suppliers,” said Kathleen McLaughlin, senior vice president and chief sustainability officer for Walmart. “The early success of Project Gigaton parallels ongoing progress in our operational efforts that seek to double our U.S. renewable energy use and expand our customer electric vehicle charging hubs to retail outlets across more than 30 states.”
Walmart also discussed recent progress in renewable energy that will move it closer toward its 2025 goal of being supplied globally with 50 percent renewable energy.
As a result of several new solar and wind projects, Walmart plans to more than double the amount of renewable energy it uses in the U.S. and increase the percentage of global electricity needs supplied by renewable sources above the current 28 percent.
The new initiatives include expansion of on-site solar energy installments. Walmart, already the leading company in the U.S. for number of locations utilizing on-site solar energy, plans to add an additional 130 sites which will bring its total to approximately 500 locations across 22 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, surpassing its 2014 goal to double its onsite solar use by 2020.
Walmart recently reached an agreement to acquire renewable energy that will enable the building of two new large-scale wind farms developed by Geronimo Energy based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Engie, a company based in France. The 1.26 billion kWh produced annually from this arrangement will be equivalent to the majority of the electricity needed to power Walmart stores, Sam’s Clubs and distribution centers across seven Midwestern states.
These new wind energy deals come only weeks after the retailer announced that most of the renewable energy certificates (RECs) generated from a new solar farm in Alabama will supply 150 million kWh each year to the retailer, covering 40 percent of the com