Ikea buys second wind farm in U.S.

Source: By Peter Kelly-Detwiler, Forbes • Posted: Thursday, November 20, 2014

The company purchased the 165-megawatt facility in Cameron County, Texas, as part of Ikea’s goal to completely offset its energy use with renewables such as wind and solar power by 2020, according to Ikea U.S. acting President Rob Olson.

The wind farm will produce enough electricity for 90,000 average homes in the United States.

Ikea’s other wind farm in the United States is a 98 MW facility in Illinois that the company bought last April. The company has a total of 279 wind turbines in nine countries, nearly 40 percent of which are in the United States.

Ikea has invested in renewable energy for several years. In addition to wind turbines, Olson said Ikea has 165,000 solar panels on U.S. facilities and has installed geothermal heating and cooling in Colorado and Kansas stores. The company also uses efficient lighting in many of its store locations.

Olson said the company was working to do its part to address climate change. Ikea is planning to invest $1.9 billion in wind and solar energy by the end of 2015