Sweden to sell sunshine in California in Ikea’s latest rooftop solar partnership

Swedish furnishing giant Ikea has partnered with leading US residential solar company SunPower to offer residential solar solutions to members of its customer loyalty program.

Following similar partnerships around the globe – including Ikea’s partnership in Australia with local specialist SolarGain, announced in the first half of 2020 – Ikea will partner with SunPower, a long-standing residential solar powerhouse, to offer home solar solutions to its customers.

Ikea will launch its Home Solar offerings in the US starting in select California markets later this year.

“At IKEA, we’re passionate about helping our customers live a more sustainable life at home,” said Javier Quiñones, CEO and chief sustainability officer at Ikea US.

“We’re proud to collaborate with SunPower to bring this service to the US and enable our customers to make individual choices aimed at reducing their overall climate footprint.

“The launch of Home Solar with Ikea will allow more people to take greater control of their energy needs, and our goal is to offer the clean energy service at additional Ikea locations in the future.”

Ikea is unsurprisingly framing its new Home Solar with Ikea offering in the US under the banner of its larger sustainability push.

Ikea already boasts a growing renewable energy portfolio in the country – including two wind farms, two solar farms, two geothermal systems, seven biogas-fuel cells, and rooftop solar systems on 90% of the country’s Ikea 51 retail locations.

On a larger scale, Ikea’s global goals include becoming net-zero by 2050 at the latest and becoming “climate positive” by 2030 – reducing more greenhouse gas emissions than its value chain emits.

Partnering with a local residential solar expert such as SunPower, then, serves as an important step, relying as it does on a brand with over 35 years’ experience in the solar industry.

“We are thrilled to deliver exceptional solar products to IKEA customers through a unique and simplified buying experience,” said Peter Faricy, SunPower CEO.

“Together with IKEA, we can help introduce the incredible benefits of solar to more people and deliver on our shared value of making a positive impact on the planet.”

Given that Ikea will not launch its Home Solar with Ikea offering until the Northern Autumn, and only then in select California markets, the details around price and solar specifications are currently non-existent.

A SunPower spokesperson, speaking to Electrek, vaguely explained that “SunPower is creating solar offerings exclusively for Ikea US, and information about the products and services will be available to customers in-store and online.”

For comparison, however, a “Solstråle” solar system with Ikea Australia and SolarGain costs $A6,448 for a base level 6.66kW system, and includes Trina solar panels, installation & setup, and a Growatt inverter. Meanwhile, adding a battery storage system kicks the base price up to $12,513.