Ford of Europe Opens New Solar Power Plant in Spain

Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn has announced the opening of a new solar power plant at its assembly plant Almussafes in Valencia, Spain that the automaker says will help it achieve carbon neutrality across its European footprint of facilities and suppliers by 2035.
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Ford of Europe has opened a new solar power plant at its Almussafes manufacturing facilities in Valencia, Spain. // Courtesy of Ford of Europe
Ford of Europe has opened a new solar power plant at its Almussafes manufacturing facilities in Valencia, Spain. // Courtesy of Ford of Europe

Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn has announced the opening of a new solar power plant at its assembly plant Almussafes in Valencia, Spain that the automaker says will help it achieve carbon neutrality across its European footprint of facilities and suppliers by 2035.

The manufacturer also says it intends to sell only zero-emissions electric vehicles in Europe by 2035. The Almussafes plant, which plant currently manufactures Kuga, Transit Connect, Tourneo Connect, and S-Max models, is slated to produce Ford of Europe’s future electric vehicles.

The Spanish photovoltaic area, which converts solar energy into electricity, is in a non-productive area of the plant covering two zones of solar panels, capable of producing the equivalent power every year to run 1,400 average homes.

The current production of close to 4,641 megawatthours per year is expected to increase this summer by 3,762 megawatthours per year, the equivalent of 1,100 additional average homes. In practice, this means that Ford’s Valencia factory will be making a meaningful reduction in its current electricity demand from the national grid this year.

Ford is looking to expand the areas of solar panels on further non-productive land targeting to reach 10 megawatts of peak power by 2024. The feasibility of potential future solar panel installations on the roofs of factory buildings is also being studied.

“Now, more than ever, we all realize the need to use renewable energy sources,” says Stuart Southgate, director of sustainable, environmental, and safety engineering art Ford of Europe. “As we move to an all-electric future and carbon neutrality across our manufacturing footprint at Ford, investments in innovations like this new solar power plant in Valencia creating new self-supplied renewable energy, which is an important contribution in our ongoing ambition to help build a better world.”

Since Jan. 1, 2022, all electric energy used by the Ford plant in Almussafes comes from renewable sources with all electric energy purchased to power Ford’s manufacturing facilities across Europe already 100 percent sourced from renewable energy. The company says it is “continuously looking” for ways to increase the use of renewable energy and has the ambition to use 100 percent carbon-free electricity in all manufacturing globally by 2035.