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In solar-panel battle, Target's beating Walmart

US corporations are getting into renewable energy, with the two retailing giants leading the way in solar capacity.

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Target and Walmart are two big-box stores getting into solar energy.

 John Greim, LightRocket via Getty Images

When it comes to US companies installing solar panels on their buildings, Target is in the lead.

That's the top takeaway from a Solar Energy Industries Association report this week on companies that use sun-siphoned energy for their buildings. Interestingly, Apple is the only tech company to make the top 10. It comes in at No. 4, while Intel and Verizon come in at Nos. 14 and 15, respectively.

Together, the top companies using solar energy have installed cells that can capture more than 1 gigawatt of energy, says the SEIA report. That's enough to power 193,000 homes. Although Walmart has more cells installed, it's Target that wins in bang for the buck with the highest capacity: 147 megawatts compared to Walmart's 145 MW.

Target plans to add rooftop solar panels to 500 stores by 2020, the company says on its website. Walmart, meanwhile, aims to procure "7 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy" by the same year, a move it says is equivalent to taking 1.5 million cars off the road.

[Via Electrek.co]