North America's second-largest supermarket chain has embraced the power of the sun by installing a solar-panel array atop a newly renovated Safeway Lifestyle store in Dublin, California.

The solar equipment will generate approximately 7,500 megawatt hours of electricity per year—enough to provide 20 percent of the 55,000-square-foot retail facility's average power usage and up to 48 percent of its power during peak daylight hours. The store's on-site retail fuel station is already powered by wind energy.

Safeway says it plans to extend the program to nearly two dozen stores as part of a "broader renewable energy initiative."