Ikea has recently announced the purchase of a 17 turbine 2.3MW wind farm in Huntly, Aberdeenshire. This addition gives them a total of 67 turbines in their global wind portfolio, with a capacity of 130MW. They also plan on adding 39,000 solar PV modules which will be fitted on stores in Cardiff, Edmonton, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Southampton, Warrington, Wednesbury, and Wembley by March 2012. They have already installed arrays which are now operational at the Milton Keynes, Edmonton, Southampton and Warrington stores. Around 31,000 square metres of roof space will be covered by the PV modules, which will provide an average of five per cent of each store's electricity. Crucially the company has also introduced energy efficiency measures that have reduced energy consumption overall energy consumption.
Following the successful installation of waste-to-energy systems at two of its stores, Tesco has become the first retailer to produce biofuel, which is based on ethanol created from organic waste products. The fuel will be eligible for Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) and will be used to power specially adapted combined heat and power generators at stores in Dumfries in Scotland and Cheetham Hill in Manchester. The store is aiming to become a zero carbon retailer by 2050.
Marks & Spencer have now abandoned plans for a large solar array at its Bradford distribution centre after the government slashed feed-in tariffs for developments over 50kWs earlier this year. Richard Gillies, Marks & Spencer's director of Plan A, CSR and sustainability, called on the government to show greater policy consistency to the company and other "early adopters".