Volkswagen has set itself further targets for 2020 in order to expand the percentage of externally sourced energy from renewable sources at its factories.
“We want to significantly increase the amount of green energy bought in at our plants this year from 70% to 90%,” said VW brand board member for Production and Logistics, Andreas Tostmann.
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In addition, Volkswagen is focussing on natural gas for its own power generation and is switching its power plants in Wolfsburg from coal to gas.
The manufacturer maintains external supply of energy at the Volkswagen brand’s 16 plants around the world, apart from China, has already been switched to 70% green electricity from renewable sources. The company has now resolved to increase this figure to 90% in one year.
Volkswagen is also switching its in-house power generating plants to gas. Supply of power for production operation in Wolfsburg is, for example, currently in the process of being switched by 2022 to combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants.
They are run in co-generation mode: the CO2 emissions from generating electricity and heat will go down as a result by 60% or around 1.5m tonnes a year, equivalent to the emissions of around 870,000 cars.
The first of the components required for doing this were delivered last weekend.
Volkswagen adds it is making progress towards its target of CO2-neutral production by 2050.
