IKEA to acquire 88 MW Canada wind farm

Furniture giant, IKEA, has announced plans to buy its second wind farm in Alberta, Canada, as it pursues 100 per cent clean electricity target by 2020.

IKEA has agreed to buy the 88 MW inshore wind farm from current owners TransAlta and Teck Resources for 119 million Canadian Dollars ($92 million).

Energy firm Teck Resources has a 49 per cent stake in the farm while diversified mining company TransAlta Corp. owns the remaining 51 per cent.

Brendan Seale, Sustainability Manager at IKEA Canada, said that the investment in renewable energy “moves us closer to our global ambition to produce more renewable energy than we consume by 2020.”

The company has allocated $3.2 billion for investments in renewable energy worldwide, spending half since 2009.

The farm, Wintering Hills, is located 130 kilometres east of Calgary and its 55 turbines are capable of producing enough electricity for 26,000 households or 54 IKEA stores.

The purchase of Wintering Hills will be IKEA’s second renewable energy investment in Alberta, following the purchase of a 46 MW wind farm in Pincher Creek in 2013.

The two farms will generate more than four times the energy the company consumes in Canada.

The transaction is expected to close in February 2017, subject to the satisfaction of several closing conditions.

In addition to the retailer’s pursuit of renewable energy, it is also investing a further $1.1 billion on greening its supply chain, including investments in forestry, recycling, the development of alternative materials and more clean-energy development.

According to IKEA, the company owns 327 wind turbines and has installed over 730,000 solar panels on its buildings worldwide.

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