Volkswagen has inaugurated its largest solar facility to date at its Chattanooga plant in Tennessee.
The ‘solar park’ has a peak output of 9.5 megawatts and is the largest such facility operated by an automaker in the US. The power is used for Passat production.
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Frank Fischer, CEO and chairman of VW Chattanooga, said: “This facility is a key part of our ‘Think Blue Factory” programme and further proof of VW’s worldwide commitment to environmental protection. Once again, we are setting standards in efficient, sustainable production.”
The expected annual output of the 33,600 crystal solar modules installed on an area of 13 hectares around the plant is about 13,100 megawatt-hours per year. The power is to be used directly in production, with solar power providing 12.5% of the electric power required in full capacity operation and meeting 100% of demand when the plant is not in production.
Partners in the project are the Californian subsidiary of Phoenix Solar, Sulzemoos near Munich and Silicon Ranch, headquartered in Nashville,Tennessee.
The Chattanooga plant has a workforce of about 3,000 producing the Passat specially developed for North America.
VW spent about US$1bn on the factory, creating around 5000 jobs in the region to date. According to independent studies, the plant is expected to boost income in the region by US$12bn and lead to the creation of 9,500 jobs.
