With German holding company E.ON’s help, Audi plans to construct what will become Europe’s largest rooftop solar PV system installed on a building at their Hungarian plant in Győr.
As part of their recent joint venture with E.ON, Audi will be providing the roof areas of two logistics centers, each with about 80,000 square meters, for the construction of the solar photovoltaic park. E.ON will reportedly be responsible for launching and operating the park once the project begins. The park, which will consist of approximately 35,000 solar cells, will boast an annual output of over 9.5 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity, effectively reducing carbon emissions by 6,000 tons.
Achim Heinfling, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI HUNGARIA Zrt., commented on the recent announcement, stating:
“We are committed to the economical use of resources and therefore want to keep the environmental impact of our production as low as possible. Approximately 70 percent of Audi Hungaria’s heat requirements are already covered by climate-neutral, geothermal energy. Our goal is to have completely CO2-neutral plant operation in the future. With the construction of the solar-cell park, we are now taking a further step to achieve this in terms of power supply.”
E.ON Board Member Karsten Wildberger added:
“Intelligent energy management is indispensable for companies that want to achieve their sustainability goals. We help customers like Audi to combine climate protection with their business activity – and thus create value for their customers and our society. ”
The German automaker was quick to point out that their recent partnership with E.ON would not be the only step made in their transition towards more sustainable forms of energy. According to Rüdiger Recknagel, Head of Environmental Protection at AUDI AG.:
“We were the first premium manufacturer to have our CO2 footprint measured and certified in 2014. Since then, we have been working constantly to reduce it further. We are also installing new technologies at all our plants to reduce our water consumption, avoid air pollution and improve recycling.”
Audi intends to make all of their production sites climate neutral through the use of renewable energies by 2030.
Source: Audi
