Yesterday, IKEA confirmed it had installed a new solar panel array on top of their Burbank facility. The bigger store was just opened in February of this year. It is located just one mile from the company’s oldest facility in the entire Western United States. The new solar array is nearly three time bigger than the one found on the company’s old store. The new 71,000 square foot solar array includes a 646 kW system with a total of 1,872 solar panels.
It is believed that the system will be able to produce 1,033,000 kWh of electricity each year. This will also equate to the reduction of 726 tons of carbon dioxide equal to the emissions of more than 150 automobiles. The system would be able to provide adequate electricity to approximately 77 homes annually. IKEA selected REC Solar to design and install the solar power system for their Burbank facility.
The national leader in commercial solar design and installation has built more than 600 systems throughout the United States. To date, IKEA uses solar arrays atop nearly ninety percent of their United States locations. They have a total generation goal of more than 42 MW. The company actually owns and operates the solar PV systems, whereas many others opt to lease or enter into a power purchase agreement. IKEA has also allocated 2.5 billion dollars to be invested in its company globally through the year 2020.
The company hopes to be energy independent by that time. To accelerate the progress towards that goal, they’ve installed more than 700,000 solar panels on buildings around the world. They also own around 300 wind turbines. According to the company’s recent press release, they believe in doing good business, while minimizing the impacts on the environment. The 456,000 square foot Burbank store is equipped with 1,700 parking places. It opened in early February of this year. The facility is located south of Providencia Avenue and west of San Fernando Boulevard.