Swedish flatpack furniture retailer Ikea has bought a wind farm in Illinois as part of its ongoing effort to reduce its energy footprint by 2020.
The 98-megawatt Hoopeston Wind facility is due to finish construction next year, and with 49 turbines it will produce nearly two thirds more energy than Ikea needs to power its stores across the US.
Ikea stores are already covered in solar panels to offset some of their energy needs, and with the distance between Hoopeston Wind and its stores so large, the wind power will not directly power its stores, but instead be sold back to the grid to offset the company’s energy expenditure, according to Digital Trends.
Ikea already operates wind farms in Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, with the investments offering the company energy price stability as the cost of fossil fules continues to rise.
