Furniture giant’s local power play

THE investment division of IKEA’s biggest franchisee, Ingka Group, has announced plans to purchase a fifteen per cent stake in stage one of the Golden Plains Wind Farm near Rokewood.

The move is purported to be in line with Swedish furniture retailer’s goal to become “climate positive” by 2030.

The two-stage project aims to be able to eventually supply energy to over 750,000 households – the equivalent of every dwelling in regional Victoria.

Stage one alone is expected to cost $2 billion and involves the installation of 122 turbines producing over 2000-gigawatt hours a year, with a further 93 windmills to be delivered as part of stage two.

A 300-megawatt battery storage site is also in the pipeline.

“Sustainability investments are a growth sector, where doing good business and being a good business comes together, and therefore are also a core strategic priority for Ingka Group,” managing director of Ingka Investments Peter van der Poel said.

“It is about making the necessary investments to meet sustainability goals and support the IKEA transition to become climate positive and transition to a circular business model, through offering affordable solutions enabling people to live within the planetary boundaries.

“The investment also increases our ability to support value chain partners with renewable energy.”

The deal is reliant on the go ahead from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board.

Ingka Investments has poured more than 3-billion Euros into wind and solar power projects since 2009, however Golden Plains is its first significant move in Australia.