SEAT’S MARTORELL FACTORY BECOMES A BENCHMARK FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY

Posted 11th November, 2009 in SEAT | Leave a comment

Early next year the ‘SEAT al Sol’ project will see the light, generating clean electric power at the Martorell factory. SEAT’s environmental conservation project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions takes full advantage of one of Spain’s greatest resources, the Sun, and the high number of sunlight hours in the area of Martorell and its surroundings.

This ambitious project has been developed in collaboration with GA-Solar, which belongs to the GESTAMP Corporation. The aim is to decentralise the generation of electric energy, which means that renewable energy is both produced and consumed on-site.

The idea is to set up building integrated photovoltaics on the workshops and a factory covering area of 320,000 m2. For the first time this surface will also include the support structure of the finished vehicle parking lots.

By installing more than 10 MW of photovoltaic panels, the system will generate more than 13 million kwh of electricity annually, or the equivalent of the electricity consumption required by 3,000 households per year. At the same time, generating clean electric energy will avoid the emission of more than 6,200 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.

The first renewable energy will be available next year

The project has already been pre-registered with the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce and construction of the initial phase, with an output of 4 MW of grid-connected power, is due to begin in early 2010 and will be fully operational before the end of the year. The budgeted investment slated for implementing the first phase totals 17 million Euros.

As soon as the first phase is up and running, SEAT’s Martorell solar power plant will be the second-largest building integrated photovoltaic facility in terms of clean electricity production of its kind in Spain and one of the largest in Europe.

With this new initiative, SEAT’s commitment as a car manufacturer goes beyond producing cars with lower emissions levels, by lowering the impact on the environment during all phases of production, development and subsequent recycling of its products.

[Source: SEAT]