Ingka Group, the parent company of Ikea, has announced it is entering the solar business in Spain, with five solar PV energy projects and an installed capacity of 140 megawatts. The group's investment division has signed a deal with Enerparc, committing itself to the promotion and implementation of these projects, in which it will invest more than 100 million euros.

The five parks will be located in Andalusia, the Valencian Community and Castile-La Mancha, and this is the company’s first large-scale investment in renewable energy in Spain, 25 years after the arrival of Ikea stores in the country. Construction will begin this year and the parks will bring around 260 gigawatts per year to the electricity market, equivalent to the electricity consumption of 65,000 homes.

Energy independent
This initiative is in line with the group's strategy to reduce the carbon footprint of its operations and become a 100% circular business by 2030. The 100 million euros announced is part of the planned 6.5-billion euro investment with which the company aims to be energy independent and use renewable energy throughout the entire value chain. The deal with Enerparc is not limited to Spain and will also include Germany.

The group has agreed to allocate 2.7 billion euros of the total investment volume to renewable wind and solar projects. The company currently has 547 wind turbines and 10 solar parks in 14 countries, as well as 935,000 PV solar energy panels on the roofs of Ikea stores and warehouses. Altogether, these installations already produce more than four terawatt-hours, which is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of more than one million homes.

Ikea stores and warehouses in Spain are also equipped with solar PV, thermal and geothermal energy installations, with the aim of being energy independent. The company has so far invested 11 million euros in solar panels alone. 85.2% of the energy it currently consumes in Spain is renewable. It has in addition launched a range of solar panels on the market to make the use of solar PV energy more widespread among its customers.

^{Photo: Group Ingka}