Ikea powers up 2 MW of solar systems at 2 Illinois stores

Jul 25, 2012 - Swedish furniture retailer Ikea on Wednesday officially switched on solar systems with a combined capacity of 1,989 kW at its two Chicago-area stores in Illinois.

The 1,124-kW installation at the company's store in Bolingbrook and the 867-kW system in Schaumburg, are currently the largest distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays in Illinois, Ikea said.

Including these two facilities, the furniture group now has 25 completed solar energy projects in the US, with installations being in progress at a further 14 locations. Once all projects are completed, the company will have 38 MW of solar capacity in the US.

The Bolingbrook and Schaumburg systems consist of 8,463 SolarWorld panels. They are expected to generate about 2.33 million kWh of electricity per year, enough to power 201 homes and offset 1,610 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, Ikea calculates.

The systems were developed and installed by Chicago-based commercial solar developer SoCore Energy.

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