IKEA invests in NSW solar parks

Ingka Group, the parent company of IKEA has announced it has furthered its sustainability efforts in Australia and acquired a 195MW Australian solar PV portfolio from Australian arm of German solar PV developer, ENERPARC.

This purchase was made to secure ‘long-term access to renewable energy that can be steered contractually towards the consumption not only of the local Ingka Group operations, but also, in the future, to value chain partners and customers, contributing to further reduction of the Ingka Climate Footprint,’ reads Ingka’s press release.

The two operational solar PV parks in Peak Hill and Trundle are near Parkes in central-west New South Wales. The company has also purchased a third solar PV park currently under development which is expected to start producing electricity at the end of 2025. The total investment in the solar PV portfolio will amount to approximately $250 million.

The expected installed capacity of the solar PV parks equals 195 megawatts. The total production of the three solar parks will be approximately 340 GWh per year, which is equivalent to the electricity consumption of roughly 65,000 Australian households.

“We are delighted to e announcing this important initiative to enable renewable electricity consumption in Australia, and to partner up once again with ENERPARC in this next step in accelerating our energy production in the Asia and Pacific region, “said Peter van der Poel, Managing Director, Ingka Investments. “With our own solar parks (and wind farms), we want to make renewable energy available throughout the IKEA value chain and beyond.”

Last month, Ingka announced it would be investing a 15 percent stake in a $2 billion wind farm being built in Victoria, expected to be operational in 2025.

“It is incredibly exciting that Ingka Investments’ renewable energy portfolio is growing and expanding so rapidly in Australia with full ownership of three solar PV parks in NSW,” said Mirja Viinanen, CEO and Chief Sustainability Officer, IKEA Australia. “In addition to the recently acquired stake in a wind farm in Victoria, this is the next vital step towards reaching 100% renewable energy across all operations. We have ambitious targets when it comes to reducing our climate footprint across Ingka Group globally, and meaningful investment like this is leading the way.”

Ingka Group now boasts 594 wind turbines, 22 solar parks in 18 countries and over a million solar panels on the roofs of IKEA stores and warehouses. Together, this produces more than 4 TWh, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of over 1 million European households.

“This partnership is in line with our dedicated strategy to develop a total of 10 GW solar PV plants globally for our own portfolio and another 10 GW third-party solar portfolios until 2030. These and future Australian projects developed by Enerparc Australia will contribute to this strategy,” said Christoph Koeppen, CEO and chairman of the board at ENERPARC AG.

“It is a wonderful signal that Ingka Group and ENERPARC have joined forces to contribute to a world of carbon-neutral energy generation.”

Ingka Group has committed to expanding its investments in renewable energy to $6.5 billion euro as the next step towards 100% renewable energy across the value chain.  IKEA has plans to become climate positive by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050 at the latest.

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