Ikea Buys Second U.S. Wind Farm, Plans More in Renewables Push

By Ehren Goossens  

Photographer: Christina Mendenhall/Bloomberg

Contractors install solar panels on the roof during construction of a new IKEA store in... Read More

Ikea, the largest furniture retailer, made its biggest renewable-energy investment to date by buying a 165-megawatt wind farm in southern Texas.
When the Cameron Wind Farm is complete by the end of next year, Ikea will own and operate wind projects in nine countries, the Almhult, Sweden-based company said today in a statement.
Terms of the purchase from Apex Clean Energy Inc. weren’t disclosed. Apex is building the wind farm using 55 Acciona SA 3-megawatt turbines. Ikea plans to invest a
total of $1.9 billion in wind and solar power by the end of 2015.
Ikea will continue purchasing power plants to meet its goal of producing as much renewable energy as it uses globally by 2020, Rob Olson, the acting president and chief financial officer of Ikea’s U.S. unit, said in an interview.
“We see the need to offset our energy usage,” said Olson. He expects the project to deliver a positive return. “Whenever we do investments, we also evaluate the return. That’s part of being a sustainable business.”
Ikea has 165,000 solar panels installed on 90 percent of its buildings in the U.S., with 38 megawatts of capacity. Apex also developed Ikea’s first U.S. wind farm, which it bought in April.
The company also has invested in wind farms in Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Sweden and the U.K.