IKEA will sell Solar panels for homeowners in the United States, in partnership with SunPower, a leader in the solar industry!
Fancy picking up a solar panel during your weekly shopping. Well, now you can! Furniture giant IKEA is partnering with SunPower. Together they will launch their latest programme, Home Solar with IKEA. The partnership will lead to solar panels being readily available to purchase by homeowners across the US! The greatly ethical partnership is with SunPower’s strong sustainable focus. Along with IKEA’s innovative involvement in sustainability. Well, a self-assemble electric vehicle is definitely innovative! In 2022 we really are seeing a push in companies doing their part to reach global emission’s target to become as close to zero as possible.
Now, finally in autumn of this year, those of us that live in the US will be able to do our part. Since purchasing solar panels is now becoming easier. What’s stopping us running our homes and cars from the sun’s vast energy? The future is looking bright!
How IKEA will sell solar panels to the US
IKEA operates 51 retail locations in the U.S. Customers (members of the IKEA loyalty programme) in select stores in California will be able to purchase home solar panels and battery energy storage systems. From Autumn this year IKEA will sell Solar Panels to homeowners. There will also be the option to track usage on an app and to sell the extra energy back. Later plans are to branch out to sell the solar energy solutions to 30 different international markets by 2025.
This is not the first time solar panels were placed on the market by IKEA. The retail giant already sells panels in 10 non-US markets, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. UK used to be included, however they were pulled from the market in 2019. In Sweden last year, IKEA already launched a programme allowing homeowners to purchase renewable energy (solar and wind parks). With the options to track their own usage via an app.
The Swedish owned retail company aims to become a climate positive business by 2030! To reach the their 2030 goal, IKEA earlier announced they were starting to install not only solar panels on their own stores, but also electric vehicle charging stations in customer parking lots. As well as recently launching a buy back and sell service. Allowing customers to sell back used furniture in good condition, in exchange for store credit. IKEA made strong climate goals before, vowing to create more renewable energy than they used by the year 2020, a promise they kept!
“At IKEA, we’re passionate about helping our customers live a more sustainable life at home. We’re proud to collaborate with SunPower to bring this service to the U.S. and enable our customers to make individual choices aimed at reducing their overall climate footprint”
– Javier Quiñones, CEO & chief sustainability officer at IKEA US
Home Usage
When it comes down to the cost of energy, currently solar (and wind) power is now the cheapest source of electricity. The clean, renewable form of energy can be used to power all home electricity. It can be used for heating and cooling and running household appliances. The average price of solar panels on the market is around $16,000. Over time (approx. 20 years) you can save $18,000 on energy bills. Another plus being solar panels will likely increase the value of property. IKEA has not yet announced how much its monthly usage fee and solar panel installation will cost.
Solar panels work on the rooftop of your home by absorbing photons from the sunlight into a direct current that flows into an inverter. The inverter translates the current into AC (alternating current), then sends the AC to your electric box to power your home!
Solar Energy Overnight
Daylight is the best condition for maximum energy use. Some energy creation can still happen without sun. There are two night time energy solutions to be able to still generate power. Firstly, there is a method of connecting to electric grid and net metering. This essentially works as a savings account. Where produced, excess energy flows to the grid. Secondly, by a method of using solar battery storage, this can be used along with solar panels to store extra energy in the daytime.
Power Generation
The average home in United States uses 10,000 kWh of electricity per year. On average solar panels are 250 watts each. This means you would need 28-34 solar panels to power the entire home, it’s possible! Solar panels for homeowners across the US would also be a great way to charge their own EV’s. Depending on the size of the car battery, about 10 panels should generate enough electricity to fully charge an electric vehicle! You can find out more about how long it takes to charge EV’s here.
Solar Energy in the States
Due to the climate in California it’s the ideal market. The California Public Utilities commission said that nearly 40% of solar energy usage in America came from California last year. So far America has 3% of electricity powered by solar. But it’s projected to become 20% by 2050 by the US Energy Information Administration. Below you can see how far solar energy popularity has progressed in the States, in the last 20 years.
Solar power net generation in the United States from 2000 to 2021
Sunpower Solar
IKEA will sell solar panels together with Sunpower, who has over 35 years of dedicated solar experience, that’s 10 years more than their SunPower systems carry warranty for. Sunpower’s warranty covers 25-years on their panels and monitoring hardware. The company calls itself the leader in social sustainability and social responsibility, with already 1,000 patents for solar innovation- it’s no wonder.
“Together with IKEA, we can help introduce the incredible benefits of solar to more people and deliver on our shared value of making a positive impact on the planet.”
Peter Faricy, CEO at SunPower
3rd October 2022