Swedish furniture giant and sometimes rooftop PV retailer Ikea is about to begin work on an industry-leading, grid-connected commercial solar and battery microgrid based on its Adelaide store.
The project, flagged by Ikea Australia in June at the launch of its Solstråle residential solar offering, is being developed in conjunction with Planet Ark Power, the South Australian government, SA Power Networks and Epic Energy.
The $6.6 million first stage of the microgrid, which will be owned and operated by Epic Energy, will install 1.2MW of solar on the rooftop of Ikea Adelaide and a 3MW/3.4MWh OilPower CATL lithium-ion battery storage system, also installed on-site in three 40 foot containers.
The solar and storage system will be managed through a combination of Schneider Electrics’ smart energy management software and, on the grid-connected side, Planet Ark Power’s award-winning eleXsys dynamic voltage control platform, the hardware for which will be housed in an additional 20 foot container.
For Ikea, the 3024 Q-Cell PV panels and battery storage will – at the end of stage one mid-way through next year – provide more than 70 per cent of the store’s electricity needs, which will be delivered via a power purchase agreement with Epic Energy.
But the project also gives the furniture giant some serious green cred – on top of having already met its company-wide target to produce and procure more renewable energy than it consumes by this year, 2020.
“Collaborations like this have always been a cornerstone of the Ikea way – this is more important now than ever in order to tackle the climate crisis,” said the global head of climate and energy for Ingka Group, Karol Gobczyński.
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