Renault launches car industry’s biggest solar roof project

Renault has announced it will install a plethora of solar roof panels at its French plants as part of the company’s eco2 policy.

Partnering with Gestamp Solar, Renault plans to have 450,000 m2 of solar panels operational by February 2012, which will make it the biggest solar panel project in the global automotive industry. The power capacity of the panels is to be 60 MW – the equivalent of the annual electricity use of a town with a population of 15,000. They will cover roofs at Renault’s delivery and shipping centres at Douai, Maubeuge, Flins, Batilly and Sandouville, and staff car parks at Maubeuge and Cléon.

Renault claims that the project will reduce the company’s CO2 emissions by 30,000 tonnes a year. It forms part of the ‘Renault 2016 - Drive The Change’ plan to reduce their carbon footprint by 10% by 2013, and by an additional 10% between 2013 and 2016.

The company states that this initiative shows ‘its concern to conserve resources by diversifying the energy mix used to generate electricity, and particularly by using renewable energy sources.’       

Installation of the solar panels is scheduled to begin in the middle of this month.