A wind farm in Scotland has been bought by Swedish company IKEA as they look to renewable energy to cushion the blow of rising utility bills.
The company will also spend £4 million on solar panels for 10 stores in the UK. These will accompany its 12.3mW wind purchase last week.
The site in Aberdeenshire has seven turbines, which can produce enough energy for five of its British stores. This is 30% of their total energy consumption.
This latest investment continues the renewable trend that IKEA have built up. Already the Swedish chain has 67 turbines globally, generating 130mW of energy.
After similar deals in France and Germany were finalised last year, IKEA has further plans to build a facility in Sweden. This would power 17 of its stores.
Meanwhile, the company insisted it had not finished its renewable plans in the UK. But for the meantime, 39,000 solar panels will be fitted to stores including Glasgow, Milton Keynes and Wembley.
Steve Howard is the chief sustainability officer at the IKEA group. He wants all stores in the UK to have solar panels in the long term future.
He also mentioned that the action already taken will reduce carbon emissions by 10,500 tonnes a year.
Mr Howard said: “We believe that our wind farm and solar panel initiatives mark a major milestone in our ambition to source 100 per cent renewable energy.
“As well as reducing our impact on the environment, these initiatives come with a strong financial incentive as consuming less energy means we spend less money, which helps us lower the prices on our products.”
IKEA has also taken other energy saving measures to ensure their stores are as efficient as possible. This has reduced energy consumption by 19% so far.
Other businesses have invested in renewable technology, especially with the government’s Feed-In Tariff scheme in full swing. But as of August 1, rates were reduced by up to 70%.