Mazda is using power purchase agreements to add factory solar without owning the panels, keeping capital tied to vehicle work
Mazda is extending on-site solar power purchase agreements to two more Japanese sites, its Miyoshi Plant and the Mazda KD Center due for completion in November, with Orix supplying the solar equipment at both as power provider. At Miyoshi, surplus solar output will go into a storage system built with new automotive lithium-ion batteries.
The plant will use the solar electricity on-site, with the battery system holding excess output for later use and trimming peak demand. Applying vehicle-grade batteries to factory storage gives Mazda a stationary use for automotive cells within its own operations.
At the KD Center, steel sheet producer Toyo Kohan will take the environmental value of surplus solar power, including its carbon dioxide savings. Mazda says this spreads renewable energy use across the wider regional supply chain. It frames both projects as part of wider work with partners to test and deploy carbon-neutral technologies, which it expects to support the region’s development and industrial competitiveness.
Under these agreements the provider installs the generating equipment on Mazda’s premises and sells it the output, so the automaker adds renewable supply without building its own capacity. The projects support Mazda’s goal of carbon-neutral global manufacturing by 2035, which rests on energy saving, renewable power and carbon-neutral fuels.
Source: Mazda
Source: www.automotiveworld.com
