Home furnishings retailer IKEA will increase the solar array atop its Denver-area store, which opened two years ago in Centennial. Installation of panels on the roof’s remaining space will begin in July, with completion expected by this fall.

Already the state’s largest single-use rooftop array on a commercial building, the project will become Colorado’s largest rooftop array of any use. 
The 83,700-sq-ft solar addition will consist of a 623-kW system built with 2,492 panels and will produce 961,000 kWh of electricity annually for the store.

Including the existing system, the total 1,121-kW solar installation of 4,704 panels at IKEA Centennial’s store soon will generate 1,701,000 kWh of clean electricity annually. That’s the equivalent of reducing 1,200 tons of carbon dioxide, eliminating the emissions of 250 cars or powering 180 homes.


For the development, design and installation of the Centennial store’s customized solar power system, IKEA has contracted with REC Solar Inc., a solar-electric system design and installation firm with more than 10,000 systems built across the U.S. 
Last month, IKEA achieved its goal of completing solar installations atop nearly 90% of its U.S. buildings (39 out of 44 locations), with a generation goal of 38 MW.  

IKEA owns and operates each of its solar PV energy systems—as opposed to a solar lease or PPAs (power purchase agreements)— and globally has allocated $1.8 billion to invest in renewable energy through 2015.

Consistent with the company’s goal of being energy independent by 2020, IKEA has installed more than 250,000 solar panels on buildings across the world and owns/operates approximately 110 wind turbines in Europe.