Renowned Swedish furniture company, IKEA, announced that it will deploy residential solar systems in the United States this fall and Tesla will face a new competitor in the future.
IKEA will partner with US residential energy service provider SunPower Corporation to launch the Home Solar program, which will first be introduced in the center of US residential solar energy, California, which accounts for 40% of the US solar energy market. IKEA CEO and Sustainability Chief Javier Quiñones said the project will allow more people to monitor and control their energy needs, with a goal of providing clean energy services in more locations in the future.
IKEA does not go into details of installation or, most importantly, price, but according to the U.S. Bureau of Consumer Affairs, the average cost of installing a solar panel in the U.S. after federal tax deductions is about US$12,000.
IKEA’s deployment of green energy has not stopped. It will start selling renewable electricity in Sweden in 2021, allowing households to purchase solar and wind energy through new pipelines, tracking electricity consumption on an APP for a fixed monthly fee and sell solar panels in 11 other markets, including the UK.
This new plan also means IKEA will become a direct competitor to Tesla. According to Grand View Research, the value of the U.S. residential solar market was estimated at about $9.1 billion in 2020 and is expected to continue to grow over the next decade. A CNBC report also pointed out that, as of last fall, Tesla accounted for only about 2% of the residential solar market and Solar Industry Magazine in March ranked Tesla fourth in the United States, behind SunPower.
Tesla and SunPower's focus on different solar products. The former uses all-black solar cells to replace an existing roof, which is called Solar Roof (solar roof tiles). SunPower sets up solar panels on a roof, which are traditional solar modules.
The U.S. residential solar market is expected to continue to grow in the future. However, due to the supply chain impact caused by the pandemic, the solar industry has recently encountered certain challenges. For example, Tesla’s latest financial report stated that, due to import delays, the number of solar installations at the beginning of this year was almost cut in half.
（Image：IKEA）