H-E-B airs green energy efforts with expansion of wind turbines

SAN ANTONIO H-E-B is extending its commitment to renewable energy and a lower carbon footprint with the installation of a wind turbine to help power its distribution center in Weslaco, Texas.

The 100-foot tower was erected near the warehouse this week, according to a report in the San Antonio Business Journal, using equipment supplied under a contract struck earlier this year with Wind Energy Corp. of Elizabeth, Ky.

The San Antonio-based supermarket and pharmacy chain is testing the feasibility of wind power to drive its stores and other facilities in south Texas. In April, CPS Energy, a municipally owned utility, revealed that H-E-B had signed on as its newest and largest customer for the installation of “Windtricity” turbines to help power its 46 stores in San Antonio and Bexar County.

“Using wind energy to help power our stores is a testament to sustainability being a priority for our business — to make a commitment to our environment is to make a commitment to our communities and to the generations of Texans to come,” said Dya Campos, H-E-B Public Affairs Director.

“Wind power is one of the oldest forms of renewable energy,” said Bill Reynolds, H-E-B vice president of facility alliance, earlier this year. “Thanks to new technologies, generating wind power as energy has become a viable alternative for us as we work to diversify the sources of energy we purchase.”

Under the pact with CPS, all H-E-B stores in San Antonio will run off of 10 percent wind power. All new H-E-B locations, including three new stores being built in 2008, will be powered with 35 percent wind power, or enough energy to power 2,200 homes for a year, according to the company. H-E-B said it will save 287 million pounds of CO2 emissions with the use of the wind turbines.