Grocery giant Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) got its first taste of solar when it’s first rooftop solar arrays at two of its Smith's Food & Drug Stores in New Mexico were powered up on Aug. 12.

The company announced the projects’ completion on Aug. 16 and said two more projects are underway elsewhere in the country as part of a pilot project.

Kroger also is installing photovoltaic arrays in Wilsonville, Ore., at a Fred Meyer store and in Cincinnati, Ohio, at a Kroger store. Both 102-kilowatt photovoltaic systems in Albuquerque, N.M., use Canadian Solar modules and were installed by local company Affordable Solar, according to a press release.

The other two are being installed by different companies, according to Affordable Solar spokesperson Nick Babic.

Choosing different installers for the different projects will help give Kroger better understanding of how solar works under different circumstances, according to Smith’s spokesperson Marsha Gilford.

“My understanding is that Kroger is looking at different technologies,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for us to test different technologies in different regions and see how that will go.”

The other two projects are close to completion, according to Gilford.

“Cincinnati is very near to being launched. I would expect that Cincinnati will be operating within a couple of weeks,” she said. “In Wilsonville, the new store was been constructed with panels on it. But they’re not operating yet. I believe those are the only three cities now that have [solar] projects in construction or are completed.”

The pilot is part of Kroger’s larger efforts to become sustainable. In 2010, throughout its stores and brands across the country, it’s reduced its overall energy consumption by 30 percent since 2000, according to a press release.

The Smith's stores in New Mexico have made additional energy efficient retrofits including replacing all fluorescent bulbs in walk-in coolers, dairy coolers, meat counters and grocery freezers with LED lighting systems. The new systems use 75 percent less energy than the fluorescent systems, last longer and are completely recyclable, according to Kroger.

Kroger bought the photovoltaic arrays in New Mexico outright, Babic said.

“Their policy is to own these systems,” he said.

The company will use the pilots to evaluate the system integrators like Affordable Solar as well as the modules.

“If it looks feasible for them, they’ll look into expanding it beyond the pilot,” he said.

If successful, Kroger could choose one company to install photovoltaics at stores throughout the country, according to Babic.

“The opportunity is significant,” he said. “It’s a big ship to manage. It’s basically the third largest company in the U.S. behind Wal-Mart and Home Depot.”

Image courtesy of Affordable Solar.