The INGKA group, the holding company behind IKEA Retail, has announced which will launch a series of solar farms in Spain and Germany in the coming years. Both projects will entail a total investment of 340 million euros.
INGKA is not exactly the same as IKEA, but it does maintain close ties with the well-known furniture company. Basically, is the holding company behind IKEA Retail, and the fund in charge of developing the necessary investments for the development of the IKEA vision. That is to say: it could be defined as the financial and investment arm of IKEA.
In total there will be two different projects that INGKA will launch. One in Germany, with a total of 300 megawatts, and another in Spain, which will be limited to 140 megawatts. In total, the company believes that will generate the energy equivalent to 140,000 European homes. Both projects are divided into different farm projects. Germany is left with four. And in Spain a total of five photovoltaic solar parks will be installed.
Five photovoltaic farms with a capacity of 140 megawatts for Spain
As announced, the distribution of solar farm projects in Spain will end in different autonomous communities: 3 in the Valencian Community, one in Andalusia and another in Castilla-La Mancha. According to INGKA, the investment arm of IKEA, the projects are in early stages. It is expected that be ready for construction by the end of 2022 and continue until 2023. The start-up itself will last approximately six months.
“We are delighted to announce this important initiative to enable the consumption of renewable electricity in Germany and Spain, which is another step in accelerating our energy production in Europe and North America. With our own solar and wind farms, we want to make renewable energy available throughout the IKEA value chain and beyond.
Krister Mattsson, CEO of Ingka Investments.
The development of these solar farm projects is part of an initiative whose projected investment is 6,500 million euros. The idea? Support the consumption of 100% renewable energy throughout the IKEA value chain. At the moment, INGKA Investments has already invested more than 2.7 billion euros in renewable energy projectsdivided between wind and solar energy.
The interest in large photovoltaic farms seems to be a subject of interest again, especially after Elon Musk recommended that Spain create a mega-plantation with the capacity to power all of Europe. Although Elon’s claim is one of those madness of the CEO of Tesla (a surface of solar panels the size of Extremadura would be needed for that purpose), yeah that’s still an interesting sight.