The Home Depot

GE + Tesla Offer Solar Savings

By Erica Rascón on Aug 24, 2017 in News

The Home Depot employees are known for their “orange blood” but they will now be known for their green hearts. Yardi Marketplace partner The Home Depot will receive a green facelift at several of its locations across the United States. The updates will help the world’s largest home improvement retailer reach its sustainability goals.

Atlanta-based The Home Depot committed to a goal of 135 megawatts of clean power by 2020. As part of this pursuit, The Home Depot has teamed up with General Electric Current and Tesla Inc. The energy duo will install solar systems at 50 Home Depot stores. In turn, The Home Depot will buy the power output generated.

The stores receiving solar systems are located in New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Connecticut and California. Each solar rooftop will reduce the stores’ utility demand by one third.

The precise terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. So far, only six locations will receive Tesla storage batteries along with GE solar panels. The Tesla Powerpack batteries will permit The Home Depot to store excess power generated during peak hours for future use.

In addition to solar systems and batteries, The Home Depot has installed a 30,000-acre wind farm in southern Texas. The wind farm hosts 125 turbines and generates enough power to fuel 100 Home Depot stores. The project has provided $150,000 in community benefits while decreasing the company’s carbon emissions.

More than 170 Home Depot sites have received Bloom Energy fuel cells that generate 85 percent of the energy that each store needs. Powered by natural gas, the fuel cells efficiently generate electricity with less carbon emissions than other techniques.

There are more than 2,200 Home Depot stores in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Since 2010, Home Depot’s American stores have reduced electricity use by 21 percent for a total reduction of 30 percent since 2004.

The Home Depot was named one of the 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2017 by Fast Company. To learn more about The Home Depot’s commitment to sustainability, visit the newsroom.