Solar panels go on sale in Ikea’s UK stores
From 25 April, IKEA will sell solar panels online in the UK, and also in its Glasgow, Birmingham, and Lakeside stores, with ‘Solar Shops’ to be rolled out in all UK stores by the end of the summer. The panels are produced in conjunction with energy company SolarCentury after a two-year pilot with Chinese firm Hanergy, which saw the supplier operate concessions in IKEA stores, came to a close last year. The deal with SolarCentury will offer higher-quality polycrystalline and monocrystalline panels sold directly by IKEA staff. The Swedish company’s move into solar comes despite low electricity prices and the UK Government’s 65% cut to solar incentives.

Solar panels will join tea lights and spider plants on sale at Ikea stores from Monday, despite huge government cuts to solar subsidies for homeowners.

Shoppers will be able to order panels online and at three stores, initially Glasgow, Birmingham and Lakeside, before the so-called Solar Shops appear in all the Swedish company’s UK stores by summer’s end.

Ikea’s new foray with energy company SolarCentury marks its second attempt to sell solar panels, after a two-year pilot with Chinese company Hanergy ended last year.

The company maintains that despite low wholesale electricity prices and ministers’ 65% cut to solar incentives, after which new solar installations have crashed in the past two months, the technology makes sense for British householders.

“Obviously the climate has been changing in the past year in the UK but, nonetheless, our research showed a third of homeowners would really like to invest in solar, and the majority of those are driven by the opportunity to save money,” said Joanna Yarrow, head of sustainability at Ikea UK and Ireland.

“Even though the feed-in tariff rate has come down, you’re still going to get a 6% rate of return on a solar installation, you’re not going to get that return on an ISA.” She admitted it was “depressing” to see the recent 75% fall in solar power capacity installed by homeowners but said “we see solar as the future”.

Research by Ikea found of the one-third of people who wanted solar, 60% did so because of savings on electricity bills, and that the average solar install should cut buyers’ electricity bills by half. A typical system for a semi-detached house with 10 panels would cost from £4,550, the company said.

The partnership with SolarCentury differs from its previous one with Hanergy, in which the troubled Chinese supplier operated what were in effect in-store concessions. This time, Ikea employees will handle sales in stores, and the company expects panels to be installed within six weeks of a buyer’s initial inquiry.

Hanergy also only sold panels through Ikea with thin film technology, which Yarrow said only about 5% of the market had wanted, but under the new deal the company will be selling polycrystalline and monocrystalline panels. Yarrow said the latter was more efficient and had a better aesthetic.

John Sauven, Greenpeace UK’s director, welcomed Ikea’s solar venture, saying: “Over the past decade things have changed dramatically as the price has come down and the efficiency, even in cloudy skies, has gone up. Now solar power is widespread enough for most of us to know someone who’s chosen to invest.”

Solar energy recently passed an important milestone in the UK when it provided more power than coal to homes and businesses for a day.