Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the largest U.S. retailer, said Wednesday it plans to nearly double the amount of solar power generated from rooftop panels on its California stores.

Wal Mart plans to put solar panels on 10 to 20 additional facilities within the next 18 months. The latest project will create about 130 jobs, the company said.

Increasing the use of solar energy is the right thing to do for the environment and makes tremendous business sense, especially in these economic conditions, said Kimberly Sentovich, Wal-Mart's California regional general manager in a released statement today.

Currently Wal-Mart has installed solar panels in 18 stores in California which produce about 16,000 Megawatt-hours of electricity.

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