Tuesday 20 October 2020

Australian IKEA store to transform into power station with launch of microgrid project

An IKEA store in Adelaide, Australia will soon transform into a power station that will support the South Australian power grid.

That will be achieved with a new microgrid project which is designed to generate low cost and clean energy for the Adelaide community, as well as power the building and its operations.

A AUD$6.6 million (£3.6m), 1.2MW solar installation on the IKEA store’s 14,370 square metre-rooftop will be connected to an on-site 3MW battery and energy management system.

The excess generated energy will be stored on-site in three 40 feet containers of batteries and then will be sold into the electricity grid.

The project is the result of a partnership between IKEA, clean energy engineering and technology company Planet Ark Power and energy infrastructure firm Epic Energy, with support from the electricity distributor SA Power Networks and the South Australian Government.

IKEA Australia’s Chief Executive Officer Jan Gardberg said: "With a commitment to achieve 100% of home deliveries to be performed by electric vehicles by 2025, optimising the ability of our outlets to generate and store our own clean energy is a fantastic opportunity.

"In the future, there is a possibility for IKEA to transform itself into an energy provider that can create and sell clean, renewable electricity to energy networks”.