On Tuesday, March 22nd, IKEA, the worlds leading home furnishing retailer, announced “Ikea goes solar” with the installation of it’s Las Vegas roof top array has been completed and is set to open May 18, 2016. Once commissioned, the project will be the largest single-use retail rooftop array in Nevada.
The IKEA rooftop houses 3,620 panels on it’s 240,504 square foot roof. The entire system is expected to produce approximately 1,750,000 kWh of electricity annually for the store, the equivalent of reducing 1,207 tons of carbon dioxide. That amount of CO2 is equal to the emission of 254 cars and enough energy to provide electricity for 166 homes yearly.
“Installing the solar panels is another exciting and sustainable step in the progress towards opening the future IKEA Las Vegas,” said Amy Jensen, the store manager. “IKEA strives to create a sustainable life for communities where we operate, and IKEA Las Vegas is adding to this goal with Nevada’s largest single-use retail rooftop solar array.”
This solar array is the 43rd solar project for IKEA in the U.S. IKEA has a solar presence of nearly 90% of it’s U.S. locations. IKEA’s goal is to generation 40 MW in the United States alone. The company’s goal is to be energy independent by 2020, and has installed more than 700,000 solar panels across the world and they own approximately 157 wind turbines in Europe and Canada, with 104 being in the U.S.
IKEA is among the top 10 companies in terms of on-site solar capacity deployed. The other nine are: Wal-Mart, Costco, Kohl’s, Apple, Macy’s, Johnson & Johnson, McGraw Hill, Staples, and finishing off the list is Campbell’s. This according to Solar Energy Industries Association.
Way to go IKEA!
Source: www.reviewjournal.com, www.businesswire.com