IKEA boosts gigascale output at an Arizona solar panel factory

IKEA’s investment arm is going to buy Arizona-made solar modules from Swiss solar panel maker Meyer Burger from 2025 to 2029.

As a result of the deal with IKEA, Meyer Burger‘s production capacity at its factory in Goodyear, Arizona, is going to increase from around 1.6 gigawatts (GW) to 2 GW annually.

Meyer Burger made the offtake agreement with Ingka Investments, the investment arm of IKEA’s retail parent, Ingka Group.

Frederik de Jong, head of renewable energy at Ingka Investments, said, “This agreement is an excellent start, both for our ambitions to invest further in renewable energy production in the US and for our partnership with Meyer Burger, a company with high ESG standards and a shared commitment to make significant contributions to decarbonization and the 1.5 degree target of the Paris Climate Agreement.”

The two companies didn’t share financial details about the deal.

PV Magazine says that “Ingka Investments will ensure a substantial annual advance payment to enable Meyer Burger to procure and finance machinery as well as raw materials for solar module production.”

Meyer Burger says that the solar modules it’s making are electrically and size-optimized for utility-scale applications. Its solar panels feature a bifaciality of over 90%.

In August 2022, Meyer Burger entered into a supply agreement with US developer D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments to supply between 3.75 and 5 GW of solar panels made at its Goodyear factory between 2024 and 2029. 

Meyer Burger chose Goodyear, Arizona, to be the site for its first US solar module factory (pictured) in December 2021, and it initially announced its annual production capacity there would be 400 MW. The Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act helped to stimulate demand in the solar sector, and thus boost Meyer Burger’s plans for production capacity.

Read more: Americans will soon be able to buy home solar panels from IKEA

Photo: Meyer Burger

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