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Published on October 30th, 2014 | by James Ayre

11

IKEA To Sell Solar Panels In Stores In The Netherlands

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October 30th, 2014 by  

The multinational furniture giant IKEA will soon begin selling residential solar panels in its stores in the Netherlands, as per recent reports.

The move is part of a new partnership between the thin-film module manufacturer Hanergy and IKEA. The solar panels will at first only be offered in the Haarlem region — but availability will then be expanded to encompass to the Utrecht region as well, within a month. After that, the partnership will be rolled out in a number of other countries — in Switzerland in December, followed by roll-out in six other countries within the near-future.

IKEA Solar Panels

Screenshot of IKEA solar panels page from UK IKEA site.

The starting price for the panels, for Dutch customers, will be €3200 — with an average installation price for a 2.5kW system being about €4400. Reportedly, though, “IKEA Family” members will receive a 15% discount — so that lessens the cost somewhat.

The expansion into the Netherlands is following on the heels of a successful pilot project in the UK — which has, impressively, seen more than 1,500 solar systems sold since it began last October in Southampton, UK.

According to the figures out here by IKEA and Hanergy, installing one of the solar systems can save the typical customer in the Netherlands about €463 a year on energy bills. Which amounts to a 10.5% return on investment within only the first year.

Owing to the relatively large percentage of citizens there who have an awareness of the cost-savings potential of home solar systems, the new partnership is likely to be something of a success in the Netherlands. No doubt, this is one of the reasons for IKEA starting the roll-out in that market, as well as the fact that the Netherlands has relatively high electricity prices.

Lisen Wirén, the sustainability manager for IKEA Netherlands, stated that the new systems are targeted at consumers “who want to live sustainably and save energy at the same time, without too high an investment.”

As far as that goes, the Hanergy Solar UK CEO, Toby Ferenczi, commented: “Residential solar panels are one of the best ways to reduce electricity bills and can provide significant annual savings.”

No question about that. If I owned my own house, I would have bought solar myself years ago. With such home solar systems becoming mainstream enough for IKEA to carry them, things are looking rather rosy for the industry.

IKEA has a wonderful history of using and now offering solar power. It is probably the leader in the world of big corporations for how much renewable energy it uses relative to its total electricity usage. It has also been a leader in the Big Box sale of electric bikes and LEDs, as well as installation of EV charging stations and wind power plants. It intends to produce enough renewable energy to meet 100% of its energy needs by 2020.

Image Credit: IKEA

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About the Author

's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy. You can follow his work on Google+.


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  • tibi stibi

    there are cheaper options. usually you can go to 1 euro per watt (without installation).

  • GCO

    Even though my experience with Ikea’s products durability would detract
    me from getting PV from/through them, I welcome their offering and hope
    they extend it to other markets.

    This is just one more little step helping make solar more mainstream in the eyes of the general public, one more competitor in this field pushing prices down, etc.

    • Larmion

      They don’t actually design or manufacture any solar panels. What happens is that they partner with an external solar panel manufacturer (Hanergy) and act as a retailer for them.

      Hanergy is the new owner of Solibro, a German manufacturer of thin film panels. They’re not terribly efficient, but I haven’t yet seen any reports of them being unreliable or short-lived.

    • tibi stibi

      i hoped ikea would have the panels in the store where you could used pickup the panels and a converter to install it your selve. making it extreem cheap.

      but they work with some company where 20 people work (needing a salary offcourse).

      ikea is a specialist in making stuff we can put together our selves with a simple guide. they should do this with solar too!
      maybe make the panels 10 kilo’s (instead of 20) so its eays to put on the roof.
      maybe make a mount system for flat roofs which you just can fill with water so its not blown away (instead using concrete).

      come on ikea do your thing!!

      on the Hanergy site they say you need 10 years to cover the cost. my system from 4 years ago needed 10 years! now it should be 5 at least.

      • Larmion

        Even if they could offer such a package, it would be illegal. You can mount your panels on your roof yourself, but the actual connection to grid and meter has to be done by a certified electrician almost everywhere.

        • tibi stibi

          for 3 panels you can just put them in any socket. for more you would indeed need an electrician. ok for that last small step ikea could offer some solution

          • GCO

            No, no, no, you can’t feed in safely into a socket, unless it’s a dedicated circuit, or one downsizes the breaker feeding it, something which is obviously impossible to guarantee.

            Imagine the following circuit (typical for the US): 20 A breaker, first outlet with your (illegally installed) PV system feeding power from your 3 modules, say 6 A, into it, 20 A wiring to next sockets, and oops, 25 A of loads there.

            The wiring between the outlets is now overloaded, but because the breaker only senses the net load, 19 A, it won’t protect it.

          • tibi stibi

            in holland its allowed to add a maximum of 3 solar panels directly. we have 16a breaker so there is room on the wires.

  • http://www.michaeljberndtson.com/ Michael Berndtson

    That’s cheap. In real money, not foreign currency, that’s about $5600 + installation I’m assuming. Every east/west facing bungalow, two-flat and six-flat should have one. There’s about 800 to 1600 sq. ft (American freedom unit for area) south facing gabled and flat roof on literally thousands upon thousands of home and apartments. Case in point, Marquette park neighborhood in Chicago, below. That’s just a fraction of a neighborhood shown in the Google Earth view. The City has about 10 miles by 30 miles of street grid just like the photo below. Maybe most important, ComEd does allow net metering. Whether it grants a hook up is another thing. Permits are permits in Chicago. For reference, there’s about six feet or an average man’s arm span between bungalows.

    • Will E

      for one Euro you pay 1 dollar 28.
      poor dollar, Energy price equals solar panel price.
      In Euro cheaper than in dollar. hehehehehe.
      I love Solar on my rooftop.
      Will be soon 12000 KWH, 60 solar panels.
      I get paid for energy. in Euros.

      • Offgridman

        You will have to imagine this sung to the tune of an old John Denver song.
        “Sunshine on my panels makes me happy…
        ” Sunshine almost always makes me smile…
        “Sunshine it just always looks so lovely…..
        ” Cause that sunshines adding euros to my pile…

        It is an ongoing family joke with the boys and I to keep on coming up with new verses for this song. Started out a few years ago when we noticed the different things we could do when the power was out in the neighborhood, and has continued with a lot of the fun events that we can afford from not having to pay a power bill.
        Soon to be the trips we will be making on sunshine in our EV.
        Hope you enjoyed or hillbilly song and it isn’t to corny for you.

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