The power will come from a Duke Energy wind farm under construction in Notrees, Texas, which is expected to begin producing electricity by April 2009.
The project will provide roughly 226 million kWh of renewable power each year.
By purchasing this amount of clean, renewable energy, Wal-Mart will reportedly avoid producing more than 139,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year. This is reportedly equal to taking approximately 25,000 cars off the road or eliminating the CO2 produced by 18,000 homes annually.
Kim Saylors-Laster, vice president of energy for Wal-Mart, said: We are purchasing renewable power at traditional energy rates. The wind power purchase will result in a significant decrease of greenhouse gas emissions and aligns perfectly with Wal-Mart’s long-term goal of being supplied by 100% renewable energy.
Duke Energy develops, owns and operates electric generation for large energy consumers, municipalities, utilities and industrial facilities. It supplies and delivers electricity to approximately four million US customers and natural gas service to approximately 520,000 customers in its regulated jurisdictions.
