Nissan planning HUGE increase in renewable energy at Sunderland Plant

Nissan are planning a new solar farm at their Sunderland Plant which will triple renewal energy production on site.

It’s all very well governments forcing car makers in to selling only electric cars from 2030, however black and white a route that may be, but to properly benefit from the reduction in pollution at the point of use, pollution at the point of production needs addressing too.

One part of the equation of lessening production pollution is the use of renewable energy to actually build the cars, and Nissan in Sunderland – where the LEAF, Qashqai and Juke are built – already has its own on-site energy production.

That includes wind turbines producing 6.6MW and a solar farm another 4.75MW, but now they’re planning to produce far more of their own energy.

The plan is for an additional 37,000 solar panels on their solar farm to increase production by 20MW and a total of 32MW, enough to cover 20 per cent of the Plant’s needs. And, say Nissan, enough to produce every LEAF sold in Europe.

Alan Johnson, VP Manufacturing Nissan Sunderland, said:

Renewables have already made a big difference to our business and we continue to look for ways to make the manufacturing process more sustainable. 

As our products made in Sunderland become increasingly electrified, our manufacturing operations are an important part of the ecosystem that will take us to carbon neutrality.

Nissan gets the process of developing its Solar Farm further this week with plans shared with the local community, with a full planning application later in the year.