PERRYVILLE, MD—Ikea has completed its expansion of the solar array atop its distribution center here, achieving the state's largest solar energy system and one of the country's largest as well.
The retailer began installing the new panels in Fall 2013, nearly doubling the size of the original project, which already was the state's largest rooftop array.
The 467,618-square-foot solar expansion consists of a 2.2-MW system, built with 7,337 modules. It will produce 2,695,355 kWh of electricity annually. Including the existing system, the distribution center's total 4.9-MW solar installation of 25,913 panels now will generate 6,092,533 kWh of clean electricity yearly.
Translation into layperson's terms: this amount of solar power will allow the 1.7-million square foot facility, which employees some 550 workers, to mostly use its own energy.
Builders and operators and owners of commercial real estate have embraced sustainability not just for its environmental benefits, but also for the benefits these improvements provide to the bottom line. Office buildings have been the most aggressive in adopting green building standards, in some part because of the federal government's mandate that its employees be housed in sustainable offices. But increasingly the adoption of these building techniques is spreading to other assets classes, such as distribution facilities.
Ikea, for example, has allocated $1.8 billion to invest globally in renewable energy through 2015. Its goal is to be energy independent by 2020.
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