Automakers are realizing the tremendous benefit of installing solar panels on their expansive rooftops, such as Jaguar, who currently has the biggest rooftop solar power system in the UK.
Manufacturing facilities, such as those used by automakers, often sport the most expansive rooftops, which don’t do much more than collect dust. Automakers also use a lot of energy making their vehicles, some of which are purported to be fuel-efficient and green. Still, couldn’t the manufacturing process be green and fuel-efficient as well? Thus, many automakers are putting those expansive roofs to good use, with rooftop solar power systems, reducing their energy needs, which is good for reducing emissions and better for the bottom line.
Case in point: the Jaguar Land Rover Engine Manufacturing Centre in South Staffordshire. The facility itself is set to manufacture the new Ingenium four-cylinder engines that will go into future vehicles. This is the first engine designed in-house, and will debut in next year’s Jaguar XE. Solar power figures big in reducing manufacturing emissions, with the installation of 5.8 MW of solar power, generated by better than 21,000 solar panels on the roof of the facility. Already, this is the biggest rooftop solar power system in the UK, but Jaguar isn’t stopping there. By the end of the year, Jaguar plans on expanding the array further, totaling more than 6.3 MW capacity.
Jaguar Land Rover’s use of solar power, along with smarter natural-light and ventilation systems, as well as better insulation, expects to reduce the plant’s energy expenditures by more than 30%. The plant’s carbon dioxide footprint is expected to be cut by more than 2,645 tons per year, and that number could grow as Jaguar expands and improves their rooftop solar power system.
Image © Jaguar
