Honda Energy do Brasil, Honda’s wind power generation business subsidiary in Brazil, has held a ceremony joined by government and community officials to mark the start of construction of its new wind farm in the city of Xangri-lá in Rio Grande do Sul (the southernmost state in Brazil – approximately 1,000 km south of Honda’s current automobile production plant in Sumaré, São Paulo). Honda Energy plans to begin the operation of its new wind farm in September 2014.
Aiming to be more proactive in using renewable energy to minimise the environmental footprint of its business activities, Honda will be the first automaker in Brazil to start wind power generation business. The total investment for this wind power generation business is expected to be approximately BRL100m (US$45.79m).
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Honda Energy’s wind farm will be equipped with nine wind power turbine units, and it is expected to generate approximately 95,000 MWh of electricity every year, equivalent to Honda’s current annual electricity needed for automobile production in Brazil (approximately 140,000 units). By generating renewable energy to cover the electricity needed for the plant, Honda is expecting to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 2,200 t annually.
Carlos Eigi, president of Honda Energy do Brasil commented, “Since Honda began local production in Brazil in 1976, Honda has been cooperating with the local community and striving to minimise the environmental footprint of our production activities. Wind power generation has proven to be very effective in reducing CO2 emissions, and I am very much pleased that we take one more step forward to utilise renewable energy with today’s start of construction. Honda will continue to be proactive in pursuing environmental conservation activities in Brazil.”
Honda has set a target to reduce CO2 emissions from its global products by 30% by the end of 2020 compared to year 2000 levels. Striving to attain this goal, Honda says it has been strengthening its initiatives on a global basis to reduce CO2 emissions from all business activities, including production and the supply chain.
