IKEA starts selling solar panels in the UK

Shoppers can order panels at IKEA’s Solar Shops in Glasgow, Birmingham and Lakeside

A third of UK households would like to invest in solar panels for their home, research from IKEA found

IKEA has started selling solar panels in the UK.

The retailer said it had put solar panels on sale to help its customers live in more sustainable homes and lower their bills despite recent government cuts to solar subsidies.

Shoppers can order panels at IKEA’s Solar Shops in Glasgow, Birmingham and Lakeside. The panels are available online.

Manchester and Southampton stores will get solar panels in May as part of plan to sell solar panels across all UK stores by the end of the summer.

The Swedish company has partnered with Solar Century, an energy power firm, in its second attempt to launch solar panela in the UK. in 2013-14 the company expanded the solar offering to all its 17 UK stores but decided not to renew its contract Hanergy, a chinese firm in November last years, only months after the government announced a dramatic reduction in solar subsidies.

The UK government has ended all support for new large scale solar farms and slashed subsidies for smaller installation used by households, schools and communities by 87 per cent – the latter move preventing nearly one million projects from going ahead over the next five years, according to government estimates.

A third of UK households would like to invest in solar panels for their home, research from IKEA found. Some 60 per cent said they want to do so to cut their bills, as statistics suggest the average UK homeowner could save up to 50 per cent on its electricity bills through solar panels.

Solar power reached a symbolic milestone earlier this month when UK’s solar panel generated more electricity than coal for 24 hours, reflecting the major shifts going on in the UK electricity system, according to the National Grid data gathered by climate analysts Carbon Brief.

Joanna Yarrow, Head of Sustainabilityat IKEA UK and Ireland, said the company believes that renewable energy is the power of the future.

“We know our customers want to live more sustainably, so together with Solarcentury we are making solar panels as attractive and affordable as possible. Despite the challenging UK renewable energy policy situation, we want to turn solar into an essential part of any home and believe our new Solar Shops will be a major milestone in making this happen,” Yarrow said.

John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, welcomed the IKEA Solar Shops. He said that Britons’ attitude towards renewable energy is changing.

“There was a time when it was rare to see solar power on rooftops in the UK. Our cloudy skies and the high cost of panels meant the technology was out of reach except for the sunniest parts of the country.

“But over the last 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,” Sauven said.

Sauven said UK solar power has created a thousands of local jobs and helped the country to take a step towards a future where where the energy UK customers are using “doesn’t fuel climate change”.