State backs stores' bet on solar power Grants, tax incentives aid switch to clean energy from sun.

Solar power is still as much as five times more expensive than electricity generated from coal. But, federal and state tax incentives and the rising cost of electricity have persuaded some large retail chains that there is a future in going solar.

There has been a rush to install solar panels on the vast expanses of the stores' roofs to take advantage of a federal tax credit that is set to expire at the end of the year. Congress may act before year's end, but efforts to extend the credit have become stalled over the debate to expand off-shore drilling for oil.

Wal-Mart, Macy's, Kohl's, BJ's Wholesale Club, Target, Staples and Whole Foods are among the chains that have begun putting solar panels on their roofs.

Wal-Mart has a limited program that may expand. Its store in Santa Ana, Calif., has a 600 kilowatt solar panel installation that provides a third of the store's power.

Thanks to grants from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, chain stores here have been among the first to install or plan installations of solar power systems.

The Killingly distribution center of United Natural Foods has a 550-kilowatt solar array on it roof -- described as the largest in New England.

Whole Foods' distribution center in Cheshire has another solar panel system. Kohl's stores in Orange, Rocky Hill and Manchester are going solar. The BJ's stores in Derby and Willimantic have installed solar panels.

In all, the state's clean energy fund has provided grants to more than 70 businesses to install solar power systems. The grants have heavily subsidized the buildings' conversion to solar power. The grants, often of more than $1 million, as for Kohl's and Staples, have helped make Connecticut a leader, along with the far sunnier state of California, in solar power.

With the cost of installing these systems eased by tax incentives and grants, the retailers are betting that, as the price of electricity rises over the next decades, solar power will pay off for them.

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