Starting from October, the Swedish furniture provider will start a test phase at five of its branches in Germany. A nationwide online sale of the “Solstrale” offer is planned to begin next February. Ikea will start selling PV systems in five stores in Germany starting in October. The offer “Solstrale” will initially be distributed in the furniture stores in Kaarst, Eching, Walldorf, Ulm and Freiburg, said the Swedish furniture company on Thursday. A complete turnkey 2.2 kW PV system will have a minimum price of €4,730 including VAT. An Ikea spokeswoman told pv magazine that the offer includes polycrystalline solar modules from Canadian Solar and SolaX inverters. The “Solstrale Plus” offer, which is available from €5,075, includes monocrystalline solar modules from JA Solar and also SolaX inverters. For flat roofs, there will initially be no PV offers, the company said. Optionally, a battery storage from LG Chem can be purchased. The models Resu 3.3, 6.5., 10 are offered. The price of the home storage system is currently unknown. Ikea offers a product warranty of 10 years for modules, inverters and battery storage. In addition, the offer includes an installation warranty for the PV system for six years. In Germany, the furniture company continues to work with Solarcentury. The British EPC company is currently in the process of setting up a German subsidiary, Solarcentury Microgen (Deutschland) GmbH, which will run the business, said the spokeswoman. The Swedish furniture company had previously looked for a German company as a partner, but then decided to expand its cooperation with Solarcentury, with which it already cooperates in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium. “We examined the market intensively for the best in order to provide less expensive alternative for our customers,” explained Armin Michaely, sustainability manager Ikea Germany. The “Solstrale” offer will be distributed during the test phase in specially appointed outlets in the five stores. From February 2019, a nationwide offer is planned. It will then be available online to all customers via the Ikea website. Having entered the solar space four years ago in the abovementioned markets, Ikea added storage to its product mix in 2017. pv magazine caught up with Signe Antvorskov Krag, Global Development Leader Ikea Home Solar Business this July to discuss business models, its role in the industry, and how it intends to execute the next stage of its plan: energy communities.
Ikea has announced plans to trial selling solar PV systems in five of its stores in Germany. The company will offer its 2.2 KW Solstrale installation system for a minimum price of €5,500 ($4,730) at locations in Kaarst, Eching, Walldorf, Ulm and Freiburg from October, before planning to offer the product nationally in February 2019 via its website. The initiative is an extension of Ikea's collaboration with British firm Solarcentury, which has already seen the company offer solar PV systems in the UK, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland and the Netherlands.