Although we have already seen automakers switching to solar or even wind power at their facility, Renault's project is so big, that it is unique. With the help of Gestamp Solar, the French auto maker plans to fit the roofs of all of its plants in France with solar panels, allowing for what it hopes will be a reduction in CO2 emissions of about 30,000 tons each year.
The French plants in Douai, Maubeuge, Flins, Batilly, Sandouville and Cléon will be fitted with solar panels that will total 450,000 square meters. The capacity of the solar panels will be of 60 MW, about the same amount of energy a small city with a population of 15,000 would need to use for an entire year.
The work on the roofs will begin this June, with the gargantuan endeavor expected to come to an end in February 2012.
The solar panels are part of a broader strategy Renault launched as a means for it to reduce its carbon footprint by 10 percent until 2013 and by an extra 10 percent between that year and the year 2016. The strategy is called Drive The Change.
“The installation of solar panels at manufacturing plants is a sign of Renault’s long-standing commitment to the environment, expressed in the eco2 policy. And the range of affordable electric vehicles is the flagship development of that commitment,” said the manufacturer in a statement.
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