(Credit: Distributed Solar Development, LLC)IKEA US today announced the completion of its first solar car park at IKEA Baltimore and has plans to build an additional seven projects at IKEA stores in Maryland and California. Initial results have exceeded expectations as the Baltimore location has seen an 84% decrease in the amount of energy needed to be purchased between September and December 2020, equating to a 57% energy cost savings for the store.
IKEA currently has 54 rooftop solar arrays atop 90% of its US locations and Ingka Group, a strategic partner in the IKEA franchise system, has invested in two solar parks with 403-megawatt capacity in Utah and Texas. This addition of eight solar projects is the latest in a series of investments IKEA has made in renewable energy.
The IKEA solar installation initiative, which is being executed in partnership with Distributed Solar Development (DSD), focuses on adding solar panels to parking canopy and rooftop sites at IKEA stores. The additional seven locations are on track to be completed in 2021, and include IKEA College Park in Maryland, as well as IKEA Burbank, Costa Mesa, East Palo Alto, Emeryville, San Diego and West Sacramento in California.
When completed, the eight solar projects will collectively provide roughly 10.7 GwH of yearly production. Out of the eight projects, five of them include energy storage systems (ESS) with a collective capacity of about 5 MWhs. This system allows the retail locations to store solar energy for later use, making clean energy available whenever it’s needed.
IKEA has a sustainability goal of becoming climate positive by 2030. In the US, the company currently owns 104 wind turbines, two geothermal properties, 240,784 solar panels and 143 EV charging stations across 51 properties. In 2020, Ingka Group committed to investing 600M EUR (more than $700 million) into companies, solutions and its own operations to transition to a net-zero carbon economy.
