Dive Brief:

• United Natural Foods, Inc., one of the largest publicly-traded wholesale food distributors in North America and a major supplier for Whole Foods, has completed its largest rooftop solar array installation to date, the company announced Friday.
• Spanning nearly 1,000 yards, the installation sits atop the company’s distribution center in Riverside, California, and is expected to generate approximately 80% of the facility’s electricity.
• The project is part of UNFI’s efforts to reduce its emissions footprint through energy efficiency, fleet electrification and renewable energy.

Dive Insight:

The Providence, Rhode Island-based company said that the 6.7-megawatt solar array generates enough electricity to power roughly 1,500 homes annually. The solar array will reduce the Riverside distribution center’s emissions by 85%, according to the announcement. 

United Natural Foods worked with PowerFlex on the project, and the energy provider will continue to support the solar array’s ongoing performance. 

“Our onsite renewable energy projects, specifically our solar arrays, are one of our most important strategies to achieving our climate goals and supporting operational resilience,” Kevin Alavi, United Natural Foods’ sustainable operations director, said in the announcement.

The company finished its 3.2-megawatt solar array installation at its distribution center in Howell, New Jersey, in 2023. It has completed a similar project at its facility in Gilroy, California. 

Its latest Impact Report, which it released in January, said the company had eight distribution centers with solar power arrays. 

By the end of fiscal 2030, United Natural Foods aims to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions from all other emission sources by 50% at its facilities, the report said. During fiscal 2024, the company prioritized increasing its solar energy capacity, supplementing on-site generation by buying renewable energy certificates and investing in energy efficiency programs, per the report. 

Other grocery companies have also turned to solar energy. Last summer, Hy-Vee finished a solar field in Chariton, Iowa, that could generate enough energy to power 360 homes annually. Vallarta Supermarkets made a deal last year with energy-as-a-service provider GreenStruxure for an on-site renewable energy microgrid at the grocer’s store in Oxnard, California.