The world’s largest home-furnishings chain, Ikea, is set to buy a wind farm in Ireland from Mainstream Renewable Power Ltd, Bloomberg has reported. This is part of a plan by Ikea Group to invest $2.5 billion in wind and solar assets by 2015.
The 7.65 megawatt wind farm, being built by Mainstream, is expected to begin generating power by 2014. Ikea will take ownership at that point.
Ikea’s stated intention is not only to reduce carbon emissions from its vast operations, but also to increase energy efficiency and control electricity costs. Presumably, if Ikea owns its own energy assets, and the fuel to power those assets is free, that will certainly help to control costs over the medium to long term.
Ikea is aiming to be completely energy independent by 2020. The company already has 137 wind turbines in its portfolio of renewable energy. Of course, Ikea also maintains that its customers will also benefit from the cost reductions of using renewable energy.
Is this something you’d like to see more big companies do in the future?
Image CC licensed by William Murphy: Ikea in Dublin, Ireland
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