Ingka Group, the parent company of the renowned Swedish retail giant IKEA, has announced its acquisition of a 300-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) project in Dâmbovița County, Romania. This initiative, backed by an investment exceeding €200 million (US$211 million) from Ingka Group's investment arm, marks a significant step towards IKEA's corporate mission to achieve ‘climate-positive' status by 2030.
The solar project is primed for development and is anticipated to become operational in the latter part of 2025. It stands as a pivotal component of IKEA's overarching strategy to “reduce more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than the IKEA value chain emits” and to halve the absolute emissions originating from its complete supply chain.
Peter van der Poel, Managing Director of Ingka Investments, emphasized the project's role in contributing to Romania's renewable energy landscape and meeting the country's renewable energy consumption targets for 2030. He stated, “With our own solar park, we want to make renewable energy available throughout the IKEA value chain and beyond in the areas in which we operate.”
Romania is emerging as a promising solar PV market in Europe. In September, the Romanian government initiated its first round of the Contract for Difference (CfD) scheme, with the aim of developing 1 gigawatt (GW) of solar PV projects in the coming years. This program garnered the attention of solar developers eager to participate, as Romania aspires to reach its goal of achieving 3.7 GW of installed solar capacity by 2030.
Among the notable players in the Romanian solar market is the Polish independent power producer (IPP) R.Power, which established a joint venture with the French asset manager Eiffel Investment Group to develop a substantial 1 GW portfolio of PV projects in Romania.
Ingka Investments disclosed its existing ownership of over 170 MW of wind power assets in Romania, illustrating its commitment to renewable energy in the country. The company's solar PV portfolio extends internationally, having recently acquired a minority stake in a 460 MWp Italian solar portfolio. Additionally, earlier this year, Ingka Group inked a long-term agreement with Swiss solar manufacturer Meyer Burger to deploy the latter's heterojunction technology (HJT) modules at its facilities in the United States.
