Ikea to begin selling home solar panels in April
Ikea is about to launch a highly anticipated new range in Australia – but the furniture giant isn’t planning to make a profit.
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Ikea will begin selling low-cost home solar packages to Australian customers in April, nearly seven years after introducing the range in overseas markets.
The Swedish furniture giant has partnered with Perth-based SolarGain for the local rollout of its Solstrale range, which will first be offered to Ikea employees for a nationwide trial.
It will then go on sale in Western Australia in April, followed by NSW and Queensland shortly after, with a nationwide rollout due for completion before July.
Ikea has not revealed prices yet but solar packages offered in other countries range from around $8500 to $12,000. SolarGain packages range from $3000-$5500 for a 3KW system to $4500-9500 for a 6.6KW system.
Ikea Australia country retail manager and chief sustainability officer Jan Gardberg said Ikea’s offering would be cheaper than going directly through SolarGain or another provider, due to the large volumes the retailer had negotiated.
“Absolutely, this has been the most important part,” he said. “Since we are a company that (operates) all across Australia, we have our guarantees when it comes with volumes. One way you can say it is Ikea standing for collective bargaining rather than you as an individual.”
There will be “three or four” packages, one of which will come with battery storage. Since launching in the UK in 2013, Ikea has rolled out home solar in seven other countries. Australia will be the first market outside Europe.
Pricing will depend on local conditions – such as government incentives and rebates – and the size of system purchased. As part of the quote, customers will receive a yield estimate which will break down a daily production and will take into account the specific system design.
Mr Gardberg said conditions in Australia were “amazing and among the best in the world to offer an affordable solar solution”. “The return-on-investment for a customer in Finland or Sweden is a little different than here in Australia,” he said.
“What’s been important is we are going more or less cost-neutral. We’re not doing this because we want to gain profitability. That’s been very, very fundamental. Of course any comparable quality and set-up, we will have the best prices on the market – this is the same principle we have when it comes to home furnishing.”
In addition to the lower cost, Ikea is also selling “peace of mind”. Mr Gardberg said some people might have been tempted to install solar power but saw that sometimes “maybe after four or five years something happens, the company has been bought up, maybe even gone bankrupt”.
“It’s kind of a service rather than a product. People should feel at ease when they do this together with us because we’re backing this up with the Ikea brand and also with a really long guarantee period,” he said.
“When you make an investment like this, it’s not like consumer goods. It’s something installed on your roof that will be there for 15 or 20 years. You want to make sure the people you are dealing with are with you the whole way.”
Over the past decade Ikea has spent $4 billion on renewable energy to power its own stores. It now has more than 900,000 solar panels globally, including nearly 20,000 in Australia.
Mr Gardberg said Ikea customers “care about the climate crisis” and he hoped “many thousands of Australians will be able to join the movement of taking further steps towards neutral carbon”.
“One thing is the cost of power we see today. Then there are tragic events with bushfires and also storms and flooding. Climate change is more top of mind now – people are starting to link this together,” he said.
“(That) I can both save money but also be part of saving the planet, or the climate. This is at least something as a private person I can actually influence quite dramatically with my carbon footprint.”
Despite annual sales of more than $1.3 billion across its 10 stores, Ikea has not turned a profit in Australia since 2016 – leaving little for the Australian Taxation Office. Last year, unexplained before-tax costs of $175 million resulted in a loss $12.1 million, The Australian reported.
Originally published as Ikea to begin selling home solar panels in April