SEAT’s production factory in Martorell in Spain has recently completed the third phase of its SEAT al Sol project that involved the installation of the biggest solar array in the car industry covering an area of around 40 football pitches (270,000 square metres). This now means that the project is fully completed and it is believed to be one of the biggest in the world.
The company has had 53,000 solar panels installed at the factory with these solar panels capable of generating a huge amount of electricity. In fact, it is forecast that the solar panels have the capability to generate a staggering 15 million kWh of electricity per annum that is a significant figure by anybody’s standards.
This means that those solar panels will be capable of producing around 25% of the amount of electricity that is needed to manufacture the new SEAT Leon. The company are to be commended for their investment in the scheme.
It is interesting that car manufacturers have been producing cars that are low in carbon emissions and here we have SEAT now with the capability to lower carbon emissions emanating from the manufacturing plant by 7,000 tonnes every year.
It is also interesting to note that a number of the solar panels have been put in car parking lots with a view to providing protection from bad weather for new vehicles which is something that other car manufacturing firms may wish to consider.
Of course, SEAT is not alone in investing in solar panels as Toyota has installed a 4.1MW solar farm here in the UK at Burnaston. There may well be other car manufacturers that have invested in solar panels in a big way so we would welcome hearing about them.
Will we be going to see car manufacturers incorporating solar panels in or on vehicles on a commercial basis at some point in the future?
