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IKEA is known for its showrooms. But now, the home furnishing giant hopes it will also become known for its roof. The Sweden-based company recently flipped the switch on a solar energy system installed on the roof of its southwestern U.S. distribution center in Tejon, Calif.
The 370,000-square-foot solar array consists of a 1.8 MW system designed and installed by California-based REC Solar, and built with 7,980 REC Group panels. According to REC Solar, the system is the second largest rooftop installation in California and the sixth largest in the United States, and is expected to produce 2.88 million kWh of power annually.
The 1.8 million-square-foot Tejon Distribution Center opened in 2000 on 60 acres along Interstate 5 in Kern County just north of the “grapevine” route through California’s Tehachapi Mountain Range.
In the United States, IKEA already has solar energy systems operational in four stores with systems currently being installed at nine other locations, including a Denver-area store also opening this year in Centennial with a geothermal system.
