Minnesota’s Largest Solar Array Now Plugged in atop IKEA’s 31st Branch

 
Yesterday, IKEA officially commissioned the solar panels it had installed at its Twin Cities store power plant in Bloomington, Minnesota. This is reportedly the largest solar array in the state.

The commercial power plant utilizes 142,000 square feet of 4,316 photovoltaic panels and it generates 1,014 kW (1 MW) of electric power.

This project is expected to generate 1,161,328 kWh of solar energy annually. This is the equivalent of removing 801 tons of CO2 emissions, removing 157 cars from roads, or powering 100 homes annually.

This is IKEA’s 31st completed solar project in the United States. IKEA has been on somewhat of a roll and has been setting up solar power plants left and right to power it’s stores in the U.S and U.K. The company commissioned many of those plants within the past year alone. Solar power systems at 8 IKEA locations are underway.

Almost 89% of IKEA branches in the United States are solar-powered. They have a combined solar power generating capacity of 38 MW.
 

 
A nice touch is that their solar panel installations are on the rooftops of their buildings. This is the most sustainable and efficient way to use land because the panels don’t require additional land at all, they just utilize otherwise unused roof space.

Solar power plants are often criticized for their size. Despite the fact that they are wider than most power plants, however, they are the most versatile of all and can be used on a large scale without occupying any land.

Solar panels are the only generators that can be integrated into or mounted on almost everything, utilizing space which would not otherwise be of much use — on the back of portable electronics, rooftops, on stands which shade bridges and parking lots, etc.

Source: Business Wire