WinCo Installs Solar-Powered Light Poles

SN STAFF

BOISE, Idaho — WinCo Foods here announced it has installed six new solar-powered light poles on the perimeter of the parking area at its downtown Boise store.

Preliminary tests indicate that the six poles will save nearly 24,000 kilowatt hours per year – the equivalent of burning 237,000 100-watt light bulbs for an hour, Winco said.

They will also save nearly 16,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year.

An electronic display panel inside the entrance to the store allows customers to see data illustrating the impact these new lighting fixtures are making on the store's energy usage. Excess electricity produced by the light fixtures will be fed back into the store, reducing the amount of electricity drawn from the grid for other energy needs.

WinCo, which runs 79 stores, said it expects that this test at its Boise store will lead to utilizing this technology exclusively at new stores and converting from pressurized sodium and metal halide light fixtures at existing stores.