Ikea, the world’s largest furniture retailer, is coming to small-town Pincher Creek, Alta.
Sort of.
The firm announced Nov. 14 that it will buy the 46 megawatt Oldman 2 wind farm from Mainstream Renewable Power, which has been erecting its 20 turbines for months and is expected to complete the $90 million project next fall.
Mainstream will continue to operate and maintain the plant.
The wind farm is not one of the largest in the region, which has more than 200 wind turbines. However, it will be the largest owned by Ikea and is expected to generate 161 gigawatt hours of electricity each year, according to an Ikea news release.
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It is more than double the energy consumption of the company’s Canadian stores, and is enough to meet the electrical needs of 13,500 average households.
Ikea has committed to own 157 wind turbines worldwide and has also installed more than 500,000 solar panels on its buildings in nine countries, the company said.
“This wind farm in Alberta, along with existing solar installations at three of our Ontario stores, is a significant step to achieving Ikea’s global ambition to be energy independent by 2020, producing more renewable energy than we consume,” said Ikea Canada president Kerri Molinaro.
The provincial government was enthusiastic about the purchase agreement.
“The development of renewable energy has been and will continue to be important to a sustainable future for Alberta,” said Alberta energy minister Ken Hughes.
This is the second wind farm Ikea has bought from Mainstream Power. The other sale was announced in August for a wind farm in Ireland.
The Pincher Creek area turbines will send electricity into the Alberta power grid at the prevailing market price. They have a rotor diameter of 101 metres, hub height of 80 metres and blade length of 49 metres.
The Canadian Wind Energy Association said in its May 2013 report that 16 wind farms were connected to the Alberta electrical grid, producing a total of 1,087 megawatts.
