Thursday 2 June 2016

Nissan plugs-in 4.75MW solar farm in Sunderland

Nissan has switched on a solar farm at its biggest manufacturing site in Europe.

The 19,000-panel project is now fully operational at its Sunderland facility, the car manufacturer’s centre of production for the all-electric Nissan LEAF and batteries.

The 4.75MW solar farm has been installed alongside 10 wind turbines which were already generating 6.6MW of power.

They will together provide 7% of the facility’s electricity requirements – enough to build the equivalent of 31,374 vehicles.

Colin Lawther, Nissan’s Senior Vice President for Manufacturing, Purchasing and Supply Chain Management in Europe, said: “With 10 wind turbines already generating energy for our Sunderland plant, this new solar farm will further reduce the environmental impact of Nissan vehicles during their entire lifecycle.”

Last month Nissan unveiled a new pilot scheme through which electric vehicle owners in the UK will be able to sell power back to the grid.