IKEA buys Canadian wind farm

   Furniture retailer IKEA has acquired a 46-megawatt wind farm located in Alberta, Canada, from Mainstream Renewable Power.
   Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
   Mainstream has started construction of the Oldman 2 wind farm at a cost of about $90 million Canadian ($85.95 million). The wind farm is expected to be operational in the fall of 2014, at which point IKEA will purchase the plant. As part of the deal, Mainstream will continue to operate and maintain the wind farm on behalf of IKEA for its lifespan.
   This is the second wind farm IKEA has agreed to purchase from Mainstream, having announced the signing of a deal for the Carrickeeny Wind Farm in Ireland in August. The IKEA Group has plans to invest £1.5 billion in wind energy and solar programs through 2015. Wind energy is part of IKEA Group’s sustainability strategy to generate as much renewable energy as it consumes by 2020.
   “This wind farm in Alberta, along with existing solar installations at three of our Ontario stores, is a significant step to achieving IKEA’s global ambition to be energy independent by 2020, producing more renewable energy than we consume,” Kerri Molinaro, president of IKEA Canada, in a statement.