IKEA Alexandra

At the end of 2017, IKEA Singapore and SOLID ASIA solemnly opened the large-scale solar cooling plant at the site of IKEA Alexandra. A total of about 380 t of CO2 emissions, the equivalent of 200 flights from Singapore to Sydney, will be saved that way per year.

SOLID supports the air-conditioning system of IKEA in Singapore. The solar plant, with 2,472 m² of collector area and an absorption chiller with 250 RT/880 kW, cools the multi-storey building.

IKEA Alexandra

Technical Specifications & Special Features

Collector area
2472 m²
Cooling Capacity
880 kW / 250 RT
Storage Capacity
15 m³
CO₂-savings
380 t/a

IKEA Singapore: cool furniture - cool environment

IKEA is an innovative company in many aspects. Besides the innovative available products and solutions, IKEA is also very innovative regarding a possible high coverage of their energy demand via renewable energy sources.

Especially in Singapore free available area for the installation of renewable energy solutions is very limited. The only available space for mainly existing multi-storey buildings is the roof area. The main aim of IKEA was to reach maximum coverage of the energy demand via renewable energy sources.

IKEA decided to install a solar thermal operated air-conditioning system, with the following advantages:

High specific solar yield per m² roof.
Shifting solar yields into the night operation hours via hot water storage.
Approved technology with a track of performance.
A low maintenance effort for the system.
Possible multiplication factor for other IKEA buildings worldwide.

SOLID consulted IKEA, with the given above advantages, to install a solar thermal air-conditioning system.

SOLID evaluated the existing cooling demand, available roof area, and designed a custom optimized system for IKEA Singapore. The solar system can cover a part of the existing cooling demand of the multi-storey building.

Impacts:

saves the equivalent to 200 jetliner flights from Singapore to Sydney
saves 3 million kWh of local used solar energy
- the equivalent of the demand 283 four-room flats in Singapore
energy savings of $2.4 million on electrical bills in the next ten years
solar helps to keep the operational costs low.