Commercial, Demand Management, Energy Storage, Commercial, Distributed Generation, Solar, Sourcing Renewables  -  January 24, 2017

IKEA completes 4th California biogas fuel cell project

^{Photo of IKEA's fuel cell system at its San Diego, Calif., store, courtesy of Business Wire.}

Swedish home furnishings retailer IKEA recently completed the installation of its fourth biogas-powered fuel cell system.

Onsite at its San Diego store, IKEA said the project complements its focus on other renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. With the San Diego fuel cell system installed, commissioned and operational, IKEA is on track to generate a total of 1.5 MW of energy via fuel cells, supplementing onsite solar arrays atop four of its California stores.

Slightly larger than the physical size of a commercial backup generator, the 200 kW, biogas-powered project will produce approximately 1,665,101 kWh of electricity annually for the store, IKEA said in a Jan. 12 news release. Combined with the 252-kW solar array installed on the store's roof in 2011, the fuel cell project is expected to will help generate a majority of the store's energy onsite.

IKEA contracted with Sunnyvale, Calif.,-based Bloom Energy for the design, development and installation of the fuel cell. Bloom is also working with IKEA on a similar system for its New Haven, Conn., store. 

IKEA has big sustainability goals that include its use of renewable energy: The company is aiming to be energy independent by 2020. 

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