Ikea Installs Largest Solar Installation in Minnesota

The Ikea store in Bloomington now plays host not only to chairs and tables, but also to Minnesota's largest solar installation.

The installation, which covers an area of 142,000 square feet, was designed and installed by SoCare Energy, a commercial photovoltaic developer based in Chicago. With 4,316 PV modules, it is expected to produce, annually, approximately 1,161,328 kWh.

The panels are Ikea's 31st solar project in the US. Around 70 percent of the company's US stores use rooftop PV systems for their energy. That figure will jump to 89 percent when the eight solar projects the company is currently building are completed. Those eight installations will raise Ikea's solar capacity to 38MW in the US. Ikea has allocated €590 million towards renewable energy investments for the next three years, and has to date installed over 250,000 PV modules globally.

Solar energy is one part of Ikea's efforts to go green, which have included recycling over 80 percent of waste generated in stores, ensuring that over 70 percent of products are recyclable, made of recycled products, or both, seeking to set strict company-wide emissions standards, and setting minimum environmental and labor standards for suppliers.

Image Source: Clean Technica