Nissan has completed a new solar farm at its manufacturing site in Sunderland which alongside ten existing wind turbines will supply 7% of the of the plant’s electricity requirements.
The new 4.75MW development is already providing clean energy to the plant, which is Nissan’s largest manufacturing site in Europe, and has been completed in an effort to help the company meet the zero emissions target of its Intelligent Mobility aims.
Colin Lawther, Nissan’s senior vice president for manufacturing, purchasing and supply chain management in Europe, said: “Renewable energy is fundamental to Nissan’s vision for Intelligent Mobility.
“With ten wind turbines already generating energy for our Sunderland plant, this new solar farm will further reduce the environmental impact of Nissan vehicles during their entire lifecycle.”
The solar farm has been developed and installed within the loop of Nissan’s vehicle test track and all of the electricity generated at the site will be used by the adjacent facility
Nissan began integrating renewable energy sources in Sunderland in 2005 when the company installed its first wind turbines on site, contributing 6.6MW of power. The additional solar energy brings the total output of renewables to 11.35MW in Sunderland.
This equates to 7% of the plant’s electricity requirements, enough to build the equivalent of 31,374 vehicles and save the equivalent of 3,000 tonnes of CO2.
This latest renewable energy initiative from Nissan follows the launch of a “groundbreaking” vehicle-to-grid project alongside a new battery storage system, which it says will power the firm’s UK offices by 2017.
The company also announced in January that it was committed to manufacturing the next generation of electric vehicle batteries at its Sunderland facility with plans to invest £26.5 million in manufacturing, maintenance and engineering.
