Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Ikea plans sizable rooftop solar array at Las Vegas location

Ikea Store Construction

Steve Marcus

Construction continues on the Ikea Las Vegas store at Durango Drive and Sunset Road Tuesday, July 28, 2015. The store is expected to open in the summer of 2016.

Ikea, the popular Swedish retailer that expects next summer to open a much-anticipated location in the valley, announced plans to construct what it believes will be Nevada’s largest single-use retail solar array. Starting this winter, the company, which broke ground on for the 351,000-square-foot store in April, plans to install more than 3,500 solar panels that eventually will cover most of the rooftop.

Ikea expects its solar source, covering around 240,000 square feet, to be the largest array for a retailer in the state, according to a news release from the company. The panels would generate electricity equal to the what is needed to power 166 homes, IKEA said.

“At Ikea, we have a mission to create a better everyday life for the many, and Ikea Las Vegas can add to this goal with Nevada’s largest rooftop solar array,” Lars Petersson, Ikea U.S. president, said in a statement, which notes this is Ikea’s 43rd U.S. solar project.

Ikea did not release information about what percentage of the store’s electricity would come from the rooftop solar grid. However, Joseph Roth, a spokesman for the company, said the amount of energy that most stores consumed from rooftop solar ranged from 20 to 60 percent.

“Obviously, the weather in Las Vegas is a lot more conducive than (in) some other states,” Roth said.

Although the Ikea project is significant for a retailer, it is not the largest commercial solar project in Las Vegas. Last October, Mandalay Bay Resort Convention Center unveiled a solar array that it said was the world’s second-largest rooftop solar spread and would provide electricity for 20 percent of the resort’s operations. It had more than 21,000 panels and was expected to generate electricity equivalent to powering around 1,000 homes.

Helix Electric and R&O Construction were selected to build Ikea's solar project with an expected end date in the spring. Ikea says construction on its first Las Vegas store, which will be off the 215 Beltway at Durango Drive, will be finished by next summer.

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