Ford announces solar power plant as further step towards sustainability targets

Ford is looking to the future with a new solar power plant at its Almussafes manufacturing facilities in Valencia, Spain. By 2035, Ford is committed to having zero emissions electric vehicles for all vehicle sales in Europe and targets carbon neutrality across its European footprint of facilities and suppliers. This latest initiative, which began operating in late 2022, highlights the company’s on-going drive to meet that commitment.

The photovoltaic area, that converts solar energy into electricity, is in a non-productive area of the plant covering two zones of solar panels, capable of producing the equivalent power every year to run 1,400 average homes. The current production of close to 4641MWh per year will increase this summer by 3762MWh per year, the equivalent of 1100 additional average homes. In practice, this means that Ford’s Valencia factory will be making a meaningful reduction in its current electricity demand from the national grid this year.

Ford is looking to expand the areas of solar panels on further non-productive land targeting to reach 10 megawatts of peak power by 2024. The feasibility of potential future solar panel installations on the roofs of factory buildings is also being studied.

“Now, more than ever, we all realize the need to use renewable energy sources,” says Stuart Southgate, director, Sustainable, Environmental and Safety Engineering, Ford of Europe. “As we move to an all-electric future and carbon neutrality across our manufacturing footprint at Ford, investments in innovations like this new solar power plant in Valencia creating new self-supplied renewable energy, which is an important contribution in our ongoing ambition to help build a better world.”

Since January 1, 2022, all electric energy used by the Ford plant in Almussafes comes from renewable sources with all electric energy purchased to power Ford’s manufacturing facilities across Europe already 100 per cent-sourced from renewable energy. The company is continuously looking for ways to increase the use of renewable energy and has the ambition to use 100% carbon-free electricity in all manufacturing globally by 2035.