Ford has been working on adding solar power arrays to many of its global plants in recent years, an effort largely driven by its mission to reduce the company’s emissions and become more environmentally-friendly. Ford UK has been one of the driving forces behind these efforts, with its Daventry facility receiving a new solar panel array in 2024 that can provide between 15-20 percent of that site’s needed power from the sun. Now, the headquarters of Ford UK itself is also embarking on a major solar power project as well.
Ford UK headquarters – otherwise known as the Dunton Campus – has commissioned the installation of a new solar farm capable of generating more than 5,000 MWh of electricity each year – enough to power more than 1,500 homes or “fuel” a Ford E-Transit for 14 million miles. That setup consists of a 5.2 MWp solar PV array with 9,130 panels and 58,000 meters of cabling, and will meet around 10 percent of the site’s annual electricity needs of 55,000 MWh that were previously sourced from the grid. The automaker also plans to add a similar solar array at its Halewood plant this year, too.
The new solar farm was delivered by On-Site Energy (OSE), an independent energy solutions provider, under the direction of Ford Land, and it completed that process in short order as well. “To construct 5.2 MWp of solar panels within nine weeks in a standard solar farm is challenging, but completing it on such a customized site with complex logistics required significant collaboration with Ford,” said David Kipling, CEO of On-Site Energy. “We are proud to complete our third energy project with Ford and look forward to continuing our partnership on sustainability.”
“Energy has always been a substantial part of our operating costs, and its importance has only increased in recent years,” added Kevin Clarkson, Program Coordinator at Ford Land. “Increasing our renewable energy capacity is as critical as the shift to electric mobility. Ford Land’s vision is to establish large-scale renewable energy assets at all major European sites.”
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Well. There’s a FULL TIME JOB Right there….. Cleaning those Panels. “O” And Replacing the defective ones???!!!