Ingka Investments, the investment arm of the Netherlands-headquartered Ingka Group, which is the largest franchisee of IKEA, has started commercial operations at a 74.9MWac solar PV project in South Carolina.
The Kingstree West project, in Williamsburg County, is the company’s first solar project to have been “fully developed in-house,” and joins Ingka Investments’ operational portfolio of 27 solar projects worldwide. The company currently operates three solar PV projects in the US, including the Kingstree West project, with a combined capacity of 372.5MW.
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“The start of operations at Kingstree West is a big milestone for us, and we are now supplying the grid with new, reliable renewable electricity,” said Ingka Investments head of renewable energy Frederik de Jong.
In 2023, Swiss PV manufacturer Meyer Burger announced plans to supply heterojunction (HJT) modules made in its Arizona facility to Ingka Investments for its solar projects.
However, the collapse of Meyer Burger’s manufacturing operations, and the acquisition of its assets and patens by Swift Solar, means that Ingka Investments has sought modules from other suppliers for the Kingstree West project. The company told PV Tech that leading Chinese manufacturer JA supplied n‑type modules to the facility, using polysilicon made by Hemlock Semiconductor in the US.
The quartz used in the polysilicon process was sourced solely from North and South America. Production of the modules was split between the US and Vietnam.
Ingka Investments did note, however, that the Kingstree West project was fully funded by the company. It added that it plans to pursue a South Carolina Solar Habitat Certification for the Kingstree West facility, a voluntary certification that has been available to solar developers in South Carolina since 2018. Developers can receive the award for a site if it includes native vegetation and foraging habitats and reduces stormwater runoff and erosion.
The company has advanced a number of solar projects this year, predominantly in Europe. In April, the company announced the start of construction work on a German solar PV facility, alongside plans to start construction next year at another German project, and in June expanded into Spain with the acquisition of its first two projects in the country.
