Ikea owner takes stake in $2b Victorian wind farm

As well as reducing the footprints of its own operations, the path to net-zero emissions will involve tracking the footprints of Ikea’s suppliers globally to reduce and offset emissions. Viinanen said this process was ongoing.

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Ingka’s global clean energy investments will contribute to these reduction plans, while giving Ikea the option of buying clean energy from sites such as Golden Plains in the future.

Viinanen said Australia presented compelling long-term investment opportunities for these types of energy projects, and Ingka Group was keen to do more deals in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.

“It is, more or less, the perfect country to start to invest in,” she said.

The Golden Plains wind farm is the largest permitted product of its kind. Clean energy business TagEnergy, which is controlled by French investment firm Impala SAS, is the major equity investor in the project and is preparing for the second phase of construction with the original developer, Westwind.

The site is set to be completed in 2025 and will provide energy for more than 750,000 homes.

TagEnergy’s managing partner in Australia, Andrew Riggs, said the clean energy sector needed more investment partners that were not traditional funds focused solely on renewables.

“We’re not going to solve the climate problem with that limited pool of capital; we need capital, finance and other industries,” he said.

“Here we have an example of corporate thought leadership, bringing other capital into renewables.”