Significant U.S. corporations such as Wal-Mart Stores and General Motors have become one of the few America’s most significant buyers of renewable energy, driving development in an industry viewed as essential to helping the country cut carbon emissions.
In 2016 almost 40 percent of U.S. wind contracts were signed by business power users, in addition to university and military clients. That’s rise from 5 percent in 2013, American Wind Energy Association trade group noted.
These users likewise represented an unmatched 10% of the market for large-scale solar tasks in last year, statistics from research firm GTM Research show. Just 2 years earlier there were none.
The huge reason: lower energy expenses.
Costs for solar and wind are plunging due to to technological advances and increased global production of panels and turbines. Combined with tax breaks and other incentives, huge energy users like GM are finding renewables to be competitive with, and frequently less expensive than, standard sources of electric energy.
The automaker has made deals with two Texas wind farms that will soon provide sufficient energy to power over a dozen GM centers, consisting of the United States sport utility vehicle assembly plant located in Arlington, Texas that produces the Chevrolet Tahoe, Cadillac Escalade and GMC Yukon.
The company is currently saving $5 million a year globally, according to Rob Threlkeld, GM’s global manager of renewable resource, and has committed to getting 100% of its power from clean sources before 2050.
“It’s been mainly all driven off economics,” Threlkeld stated. “Wind and solar expenses are boiling down so quick that it made it feasible.”
