24|06|2010

Ikea invests two million euros in its first photovoltaic installation in Spain

Ikea has invested two million euros setting up its first photovoltaic production plant in Spain. The installation is on the roof of its Seville store and will enable the saving of 180 million tons of CO2 emissions.

The plant is part of a pilot scientific project the objective of which is to evaluate the performance of a range of photovoltaic solar energy systems. Three other Ikea stores are participating in the project in Brooklyn (United States), Gante (Belgium) and Rostock (Germany).

The company has invested eight million euros in the project; two in the Seville plant.
1,830 panels have been installed in the Spanish plant, which will produce 367,697 kilowatt hours (KWH) a year, which is the equivalent of the estimated consumption of the municipal buildings and street lighting in Castilleja de la Cuesta, where the Ikea store is located, in one month.

The Seville plant has six different types of solar panels installed covering nearly half the 6,700 square meter rooftop of the Ikea store. "The energy produced by this Ikea plant will all be fed into the grid for distribution to users. We are talking about the production of 364,000 kilowatt hours a year", Spínola explained.