Home furnishings retailer IKEA plans to install solar energy panels at three of its U.S. locations: Draper, Utah; New Haven, Conn.; and Portland, Ore. Pending governmental permits, work on the three installations – which are expected to include nearly 10,000 modules in total – will begin next year.
The 310,000 square-foot Draper store will host a 1.013 MW array featuring 4,311 modules. The 311,000 square-foot New Haven store will host a 940.8 kW array, and the 280,000 square-foot Portland store will host a 497.3 kW array with 2,072 panels.
IKEA expects that the projects will be completed in spring 2012 and generate 3,156 MWh annually. These three projects bring the number of IKEA locations in the U.S. with solar installations to 23 – more than half of the company's U.S. stores, IKEA adds.