CANTON TOWNSHIP ? Home furnishings retailer Idea on Tuesday went green, plugging in its 122,200 square foot photovoltaic array at its Canton Township store.
The PV array consists of a 977.6-kW system, built with 4,160 panels and will produce approximately 1.1 million kilowatt-hours of clean electricity a year, the equivalent of reducing 769 tons of carbon dioxide, eliminating the emissions of 151 cars or powering 96 homes yearly.
This investment by Ikea reinforces the company?s long-term commitment to sustainability and confidence in photovoltaic technology. Ikea owns and operates each of its solar PV energy systems atop its buildings, as opposed to a solar lease or power purchase agreement. This Canton installation represents the 20th completed solar energy project for Ikea in the United States, with 19 more locations under way, making the eventual U.S. solar presence of Ikea nearly 89 percent, with a total generation of 38 megawatts.
For the development, design and installation of the Canton store?s customized solar power system, Ikea contracted with SoCore Energy, one of the largest commercial solar developers in the Midwest and developer of more than 65 U.S. commercial PV installations.
?Ikea has a never-ending job where most things remain to be done that encourages us always to ask ourselves how we can improve what we do today for a better tomorrow,? said Anton van Dongen, store manager. ?We appreciate the support of the Canton Township, Detroit Edison and SoCore Energy, our partners in this project.?
Located on 21 acres along Ford Road off I-275 at the intersection with Haggerty Road, the 311,000-square-foot Ikea Canton opened in June 2006. In addition to 10,000 exclusively designed items, the store presents 52 different room-settings, three model home interiors, a supervised children?s play area, and a 350-seat restaurant serving Swedish specialties.
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