Nissan announces plans for renewable energy expansion at Sunderland
Plans include an expansion of a solar farm.
Nissan has revealed plans for a major expansion of renewable energy sources at its Sunderland plant.
Adding to the plant’s existing wind turbines and solar farm, the proposed expansion would see an additional 37,000 solar panels installed, resulting in 20 per cent of the plant’s energy being produced by renewable sources – equivalent to building every single Nissan Leaf sold in Europe.
The plans are being shared with the local community this week prior to a formal planning application being submitted.
Alan Johnson, vice president manufacturing at Nissan Sunderland, said: “Renewables have already made a big difference to our business and we continue to look for ways to make the manufacturing process more sustainable.
“As our products made in Sunderland become increasingly electrified, our manufacturing operations are an important part of the ecosystem that will take us to carbon neutrality.”
These plans would build on existing renewable energy sources first integrated into Sunderland back in 2005 when the first wind turbines were installed. The 10 turbines contribute 6.6MW of power, added to with a 4.75MW solar farm installed in 2016. This new 20MW solar farm extension would boost total output to 32MW.
Nissan has already announced ambitions to achieve carbon neutrality across the company’s operations and the life cycle of its products by 2050. It recently stated that from the early 2030s, each new Nissan vehicle would feature an electrified powertrain.
