Big box retailers in the U.S. aren't the only ones making strides to become more eco-friendly, as a popular grocery store in France has announced a collaboration with a renewable energy company.
Carrefour, headquartered just outside Paris with thousands of convenience stores and supermarkets across the country, revealed in mid-July that it would be working alongside GreenYellow to harness solar energy.
Through the 20-year contract, Carrefour will install solar panels that will shade around 350 of its hypermarket and supermarket parking lots. It is a huge step for the grocer to reach its goal of using 100% renewable energy by 2030, Carrefour said in the announcement. It also aligns with the nation's ApER Law passed last year, which ordered companies to use renewable energy technologies like solar panels in large parking lots or face fines.
The grocer said it expects massive savings in its electricity and energy bills by using solar energy. Construction is set to last until the end of 2026, and the solar panels will generate around 450 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy with less pollution than traditional energy sources. This is roughly equal to the same amount of electricity used by small cities, the grocer said.
Not only will these solar panels benefit the local ecosystems, but they will also help customers. The large panels will provide shade from the sun or bad weather conditions.
"We are extremely proud of our long-term partnership with Carrefour, a leader in French and international retailing, for an unprecedented large-scale project," GreenYellow President Otmane Hajji told Renewable Energy Magazine. "This emblematic project strengthens our commitment to guiding large French and international companies towards energy independence and confirms our position as a leader in decentralized solar self-consumption."
The supermarket chain has praised the new partnership, saying it is just one way it can help protect our planet.
"This partnership is a major milestone in our Carrefour 2026 plan, which places the fight against climate change as one of its key strategic objectives," Alexandre Bompard, Carrefour Group chairman and CEO, added. "We are thus accelerating the large-scale deployment of photovoltaic power plants in our stores in order to achieve our goal of using 100% renewable electricity by 2030. GreenYellow's expertise will enable us to succeed in this major impact project."
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