Renault Samsung Motors has announced it is working on a 1.4MW rooftop solar
station at its new logistics centre in South Korea.
The automaker – a subsidiary of France’s Renault – said the installation
would generate 1,387MW of electricity a year upon its completion in September,
supplying electricity to the company’s logistics facility in the county of
Haman, in South Gyeongsang province.
Renault Samsung, South Korea’s fourth largest automaker, estimates the giant
rooftop array will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 900 tonnes annually.
However, the company did not disclose the cost of the project, or say whether it
would be grid connected.
The move is the first step in a wider solar power initiative from the firm
that could see larger solar arrays installed at more of its facilities.
The company said it is already studying the feasibility of a 5MW solar power
station on the roof of its manufacturing plant in South Korea’s southern port
city of Busan. If the project gets the go ahead, it would be the world’s
second-biggest rooftop array after General Motors’ 10MW
at its assembly plant in Zaragoza, Spain.
Renault already makes use of green technologies at some of its European
plants. In 2007, it installed solar thermal energy collectors at facilities in
Palencia, Spain and Cacia, Portugal to produce hot water for use in the car
manufacturing process. The collectors reduce carbon output by an estimated 600
tonnes annually.
Renault also uses cogeneration equipment – comprising a gas turbine-driven
44MW alternator – at its assembly factory in Flins, France, which was installed
in 1999.