Nissan has flipped the switch on a new solar farm at its biggest manufacturing site in Europe, the Nissan Sunderland Plant in Sunderland, U.K. The factory is the company’s European center for production of the all-electric Nissan LEAF and its batteries.
The 4.75 MW solar project features about 19,000 photovoltaic panels, and they are located alongside 10 wind turbines that were already generating 6.6 MW of clean power for Nissan. The solar project brings the Sunderland site’s renewable energy capacity to 11.35 MW, which Nissan says equates to 7% of the plant’s electricity requirements, enough to build the equivalent of 31,374 vehicles.
The solar farm was developed and installed within the loop of Nissan’s vehicle test track in Sunderland by partner company European Energy Photovoltaics, with 100% of the electricity generated to be used by Nissan.
Colin Lawther, Nissan’s senior vice president for manufacturing, purchasing and supply chain management in Europe, says, “Renewable energy is fundamental to Nissan’s vision for Intelligent Mobility.”