Environmental Leader

Expanding its on-site wind power portfolio sprinkled throughout the UK and Germany, Ford of Europe has added two wind turbines, each with a height of 150 meters, to supply a significant amount of electricity for its Genk plant in Belgium.

Five years ago, Ford’s Dagenham Diesel Centre in the UK became the first automotive plant to meet all its electricity needs from on-site turbines. The automaker says a third turbine will come online next year, following the installation of a new 1.4/1.6-litre Duratorq TDCi engine production line, which will allow the plant to be 100 percent powered by wind.

Ford’s 270-acre Dunton Technical Centre is also powered 100 percent by renewable energy sources, including hydro, wind and waste generation.

Ford also is sourcing renewable electricity from three hydro-power plants to meet the power demands of its sites in Cologne, Germany, including its production facilities at the Niehl Plant, the Technical Centre in Merkenich, and Ford of Europe’s head office.

Ford’s Merkenich Technical Centre is heated by steam provided by local utility provider as a by-product of its co-generation power plant.

The initiatives in Niehl and Merkenich reduce annual CO2 emissions by 190,000 tons, according to Ford.

In Wales, Ford uses solar energy to help power the Bridgend engine plant.

While Ford has primarily focused on wind power to generate electricity at is production facilities, General Motor’s has turned to the sun to power its global facilities.

In the U.S., GM has added a 1.2- megawatt (MW) solar power installation to the roof of its transmission assembly plant in White Marsh, Md., supplying about 20 percent of the plant’s power, and claims two of the largest solar power installations in the U.S. at its Rancho Cucamonga and Fontana, California parts warehouses.

General Motors also claims the world’s largest rooftop solar power installation with 85,000 solar panels at its assembly plant in Figueruelas, Zaragoza, Spain.