Whole Foods Going Solar – Will Others Follow?

April 6, 2016

Whole Foods Going Solar OK let’s be honest, Whole Foods is in trouble. Their stock has been sinking, competitors have multiplied and steadily and methodically chipped away at their market share. Now Whole Foods has come up with a concept (a Hail Mary attempt to save the company?) to attract millennial shoppers called 365 by Whole Foods Market. So it is clear that they need to do whatever they can to cut costs. It is very exciting that they are going solar in part to achieve this goal! Whole Foods is partnering with 2 companies, NRG Energy and Solar City, to provide solar power to 100 of its stores and distribution centers (about 25% of their 400) around the U.S. Notwithstanding the good publicity from doing something good for the environment, this is being done solely to save money. What just might happen as a result of the publicity is that other companies, grocers and other types of companies, will follow suit. With the new battery technology being created by Tesla and others to store solar energy for use when there is no sunshine, it is not a question of if others will follow suit but when. Walmart is already utilizing this technology to power 12 stores in California and I am confident that it won’t be long before they announce that they are expanding the program since it has already proven to be successful.

This is great news and hopefully puts some pressure of FPL and the Florida politicians that have effectively prevented the public from using solar power despite our moniker of being the Sunshine State. We currently get less than 1% of our power from solar energy and natural gas is the preferred energy source of FPL. The more press that companies get by utilizing solar energy to save money will eventually benefit the people of Florida. Eventually FPL and the politicians will have to relent and allow the public to install rooftop solar panels, like they do in most other states, and this will hurt their profits. Unless they change the laws just so, which without question they are and will continue to do so. They have a huge lobby and are a monopoly of course.

So it is FPL against the citizens of Florida in the battle for solar energy access. Eventually the good citizens will win but how long will it take and at what cost? We will find out soon enough. As always thanks for reading and have a great day.

Save