IKEA plans to install a fuel cell system manufactured by Bloom Energy at its location in Emeryville, California, one of two San Francisco-area stores for the Swedish company. The project represents the first IKEA endeavor globally to convert biogas into electricity through the clean electro-chemical process of fuel cells. The fuel cell system will be installed, commissioned and activated by this summer, 2015.
Slightly larger than the physical size of a commercial back-up generator, the 300 kW system will operate on biogas and produce about 2,497,651 kWh annually for the store. Combined with the solar energy system installed atop the store in 2011, the fuel cells will help generate more than a majority of the store’s energy onsite.
