GHG Emissions, Solar, Sourcing Renewables - March 2, 2021
IKEA plans for solar car parks at retail locations
IKEA announced on Feb. 25 that it has completed its first solar car park at its Baltimore location. The location has already seen an 84% decrease in the amount of energy needed to be purchased between September – December 2020, equating to a 57% energy cost savings for the store. IKEA also plans to build an additional seven projects at IKEA stores in Maryland and California.
“At IKEA, we aim to have a positive impact on people and planet, which is why sustainability is embedded in every part of our business,” Jennifer Keesson, Country Sustainability Manager, IKEA Retail U.S., said in a statement. “We currently have 54 rooftop solar arrays atop 90% of our IKEA U.S. locations and Ingka Group, a strategic partner in the IKEA franchise system, has invested in two solar parks with 403-MW 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 and marks a significant step forward in our goals to be climate positive.”
The IKEA solar installation initiative is being executed in partnership with Distributed Solar Development (DSD). 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. Five will include energy storage systems with a collective capacity of about 5 MWh. This system allows the retail locations to store solar energy for later use, making clean energy available whenever it’s needed.
IKEA has long been committed to investing in renewable energy to meet its sustainability goal of becoming climate positive by 2030. In the U.S., the company currently owns 104 wind turbines, two geothermal properties, 240,784 solar panels and 143 EV charging stations across 51 properties.
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