IKEA owner bags 49% stake in eight Russian solar farms

The total capacity of 160MW is forecast to provide enough electricity to power 17 IKEA stores in Russia

IKEA owner’s investment arm, Ingka Investments has announced the purchase of a 49% stake in eight solar PV farms in South West Russia.

Solar projects’ total capacity of 160MW is predicted to provide enough electricity to power the entire IKEA portfolio in Russia that includes 17 stores.

The company said the total asset value of the eight parks is more than €235 million (£203m).

The transaction is believed to be the first large-scale foreign investment into renewables in Russia by a non-utility firm.

Krister Mattsson, Managing Director at Ingka Investments, said: “To support our sustainability goals and contribute to the overall IKEA commitment to become climate positive by 2030, we aim to expand our renewable energy portfolio into more countries, with Russia and Asia-Pacific a priority.

“With our own wind farms and solar parks, we want to make renewable energy available across our operations.”

Ingka Group currently owns 547 wind turbines in 14 countries, two solar parks and 935,000 solar panels on IKEA stores’ and warehouses’ rooftops, having an estimated 1.7GW of total installed renewables.

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