IKEA owner Ingka Group has invested US$370.84 million ( €340 million) in solar PV projects. These 440MW solar PV projects are located in Germany and Spain and will be developed by developer Enerparc. The four solar PV park projects in Germany will have a capacity of 300MW, and the 140MW will be located in Spain.
Furthermore, the projects are set to start construction by the end of this year. The solar PV acquisitions in both countries will allow all IKEA stores and warehouses in Germany and Spain to be powered by renewable energy, according to the company. Krister Mattsson, managing director at Ingka Investments, said: “We are delighted to be announcing this important initiative to enable renewable electricity consumption in Germany and Spain, which is another step in accelerating our energy production in Europe and North America.” The company’s portfolio counts at the moment 547 wind turbines in 14 countries, 10 utility-scale solar parks, and almost 1 million solar panels installed on rooftops of IKEA stores and warehouses, with a total annual production of more than 4TWh.
So far, the investment arm of the group has invested more than €2.7 billion in renewable projects, with a total investment of €6.5 billion, which it increased last year by €4 billion, to help reduce IKEA’s greenhouse gas emissions across its value chain as it is committed to phasing out of fossil fuels by 2030. Last year, IKEA teamed up with the Rockefeller Foundation to create a US$1 billion initiative for investments in distributed renewable energy.
“The projects are at early stages and are expected to become ready for construction at the end of 2022, continuing into 2023. The construction itself will take roughly six months.” Ingka Group said. The group now owns 547 wind turbines in 14 countries, 10 solar parks, and 935,000 solar panels on the roofs of IKEA stores and warehouses, which together produce more than 4 Terawatt hours of electricity.
“The expected production..will be sufficient to cover all IKEA stores and warehouses in the two countries, making the operations of Ingka Group carbon neutral,” it said in a statement. IKEA operated through a franchise system with Ingka Group the main franchisee to brand owner Inter IKEA. The company as a whole aim to be climate positive, or reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than its entire value emits, by 2030.
Last year, Jesper Brodin, the chief executive of Ingka Group, talked about IKEA’s growing clean energy ambitions last year. He said, “We are in the most important decade in the history of humankind – climate change is no longer a distant threat, and we must all do our part to limit global warming to 1.5C,”
