IKEA is kicking off a solar car park push in the US

[Think. Again.]

Michelle Lewis | Sep 12 2023
Full Article: https://electrek.co/2023/09/12/ikea-solar-us/

IKEA today announced that it’s adding solar car parks, more solar on store rooftops, and battery energy storage systems to seven of its US stores.

IKEA has been installing solar at its US stores for more than a decade. Its Paramus, New Jersey, store is the first of seven units included in this new solar push, and it appears to have functioned as a pilot, as IKEA today said that its solar installation was completed in July of this year. Paramus (pictured above) boasts IKEA’s first-ever long-span carpark system that maximizes the number of solar panels and covers the entire parking deck roof.

The remaining six units that are in the project are in Brooklyn; Covina, CA; New Haven, CT; Stoughton, MA; Tempe, AZ, and the IKEA fulfillment facility in Tejon, CA.

-snip-

When all seven units are fully operational, they will collectively provide 13,600 megawatt hours of annual production, the equivalent of offsetting 5,883 tons of carbon emissions.

-snip-

It also announced today that it’s launching a renewable heating and cooling project to replace and optimize existing HVAC systems with high energy efficiency and coefficient performance. It will start with five stores this year, in Canton, MI; Draper, UT; Round Rock, TX; and Tampa and Orlando, FL. It will take around a year to complete, and stores will remain open during the work.

IKEA US has a goal of eliminating fossil fuels from its operations by 80% by 2030.

Full Article: https://electrek.co/2023/09/12/ikea-solar-us/

[BComplex]

1. This is GREAT!!!

I've been wondering why all the shopping centers, everywhere, that have these huge parking lots, don't start putting up solar panels to shield the cars from the new extreme heat, while also providing energy to power the shopping center.

I also wonder why electric cars aren't covered in solar panels instead of just fiberglass.

[Think. Again.]

2. I agree!

I know there are a lot of places where any new retail development has to have a certain number of parking spaces according to how many people would be using it, can't we just say those spaces have to be covered with PVs?

And yes, I've always wondered why photovoltaics aren't just built in to EV car bodie, roof, trunk (frunk?), hood, etc.

[SKKY]

3. They've been doing this in Europe for years...

...the Ikea I lived near in Southern Spain only gets about 20% of its electricity from the utility company with the rest coming from renewables. We have tons of space for this here in the US.

[oldsoftie]

4. Yes; without taking open land. PLENTY of huge roofs!

[tekriter]

5. Our store in St. Louis...

…is a small store by IKEA standards, so it does not have a separate parking garage. What it dies have, however, is the largest solar installation in Missouri on our roof.

I was told during my orientation there that we get about 80-85% of our electricity usage from those panels, the rest from the local utility. It could be 100% if not for stretches of cloudy days and wet weather.

[tanyev]

6. Bravo!

Just think where we'd be if every retail/business with a large usable roof area and giant parking lot did this.

[JT45242]

7. added benefit -- cheaper snow removal

If they were to cover the entire parking lot except the access road (as our Costco in suburban Iowa City), then they would need no snow removal service. Someone in operations at the Costco said that having a covered (not with solar panels) parking lot likely saves them close to $100K a year on snow removal.