Safeway Plans to Power 23 Stores with Solar Energy

Energy Resource, Sept 13, 2007

ENERGY RESOURCE-13 September 2007-Safeway Plans to Power 23 Stores with Solar Energy(C)2007 JeraOne - http://www.jeraone.com

Safeway Inc. today said it will power 23 California stores with renewable solar energy.

The company has already installed solar panels at a newly renovated Safeway Lifestyle store in the San Francisco Bay Area community of Dublin, and plans to extend the program to nearly two dozen stores as part of a broader renewable energy initiative.

The Dublin solar unit is currently generating electricity to power the 55,000-square-foot retail facility. The entire Dublin Safeway facility utilizes renewable energy, including the store's on-site retail fuel station, which is powered by wind energy.

By using solar energy at the Dublin store, Safeway said it is removing 487,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air, the equivalent of taking 50 passenger cars off the road annually or planting 184 acres of pine trees. The entire 23-store solar program will remove 10.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide from the air, the equivalent of taking 1,000 cars off the road annually or planting 4,000 acres of pine trees.

Solar equipment at the Dublin Safeway store and other planned locations will produce approximately 7,500 megawatt hours of electricity per year, enough to provide 20 percent of the stores' average power usage and up to 48 percent of power usage during the peak hours.

In 2005 the company transitioned all of its 295 U.S. fuel stations to 100 percent renewable wind energy. Safeway is the largest retail purchaser of green wind energy in California and one of the top 25 Fortune 500 companies purchasing green energy nationwide, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

"Safeway is taking its green power initiative to the next level as we identify additional California store locations for its solar stores program," said Joe Pettus, Safeway Senior Vice President, Fuel & Energy. "The investment in renewable energy, both solar and wind makes sense for both the environment and our company."

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