Home furnishing retailer, IKEA Australia, is rolling out a solar panel energy system across its east coast stores, which will create the largest commercial installation in the country.
It covers seven IKEA buildings with over 16,000 panels generating 5,495 million kilowatt hours (MWh) of electricity.
The five stores and two pick-up locations are spread across Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales and the panels will be rolled out throughout the remainder of 2014.
Installation will be undertaken by Canadian Solar and Kingspan and the panels will cover an area equivalent to almost five soccer fields - an estimated 32,870 m2.
Moreover, it will reduce an annual rate of 5,660 tonnes of emissions of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to the emissions of 1,896 motor vehicles.
IKEA’s efforts to minimise its impact on the environment is outlined in its “People and Planet Positive” strategy for 2020.
IKEA Australia sustainability manager, Richard Wilson, said the solar installation will strengthen the company’s efforts to be energy independent by the year 2020.
He said there are some 550,000 solar panels installed in IKEA buildings worldwide, enough to provide the annual electricity needs of 20,300 homes.
“By maximising renewable energy, we are able to reduce our carbon footprint and work towards our global ambition of being energy independent,” Wilson said.