Ford announced today that it has added 2.8 megawatts of solar panels at its plant in Valencia, Spain. The new panels will help power the plant, and generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 1,400 average homes.
Just the latest step in Ford’s mission to make the manufacturing facility that is responsible for vehicles like the Kuga and the Transit Connect cleaner, the automaker has plans to add more panels in the near future. In fact, in the coming months, it will add another 2.2 megawatts of panels to the unproductive areas at the plant – enough to power a further 1,100 homes.
By 2024, Ford hopes to have installed a total of 10 megawatts of solar panels at the plant. To do that, it is looking to all underutilized land at the Spanish facility, and will install panels on roofs and elsewhere.
Read: Ford Uses 2,159-Panel Solar Array To Power EV Chargers At Its Research & Engineering Center
Although the solar panels will help Ford reduce its dependence on the national grid, its Valencia plant, along with all of Ford’s European plants, have been powered entirely by renewable energy since January 1, 2021.
“Now, more than ever, we all realize the need to use renewable energy sources,” said Stuart Southgate, director, Sustainable, Environmental and Safety Engineering, Ford of Europe. “As we move to an all-electric future and carbon neutrality across our manufacturing footprint at Ford, investments in innovations like this new solar power plant in Valencia creating new self-supplied renewable energy, which is an important contribution in our ongoing ambition to help build a better world.”
In the U.S., meanwhile, Ford is working with companies like DTE Energy for its green electricity, and by 2025, it hopes to be able to power all of its Michigan plants with renewable energy. Globally, the automaker plans to use only renewable energy to power its entire manufacturing base by 2035.
