Photo-voltaic systems are environment friendly way of producing electricity which also helps in reducing the carbon emissions. Renault is making use of this technology to come up with the ‘World’s largest photo-voltaic system in the auto industry’. This new project by Renault will solve two problems at one go. The photo-voltaic panel would act as a shed for the company’s cars before they roll out of the premises. This would help in protecting them from the natural elements especially the hails.
Apart from the basic protection it would offer, the major outcome would be the production of electricity itself. The plan is to introduce a whooping 40 hectares (equivalent to 400,000 sq.ft.) of photo-voltaic panels at six of its production sites. The locations that have been finalized are Douai, Batilly, Sandouville, Maubeuge, Flins and Cléon. These would be implemented at the delivery centres, shipping centres and also employee parking areas. Thus it would be the best utilization of the available space.
The panels would be designed in a way to resist the natural impacts. It is estimated that these panels would generate 52,600 MWh of electricity per year. Well, that is the amount of electricity that can support a small town with around 15,000 people. As mentioned earlier, the system would reduce the carbon emissions by almost 200-tonnes. The complete plan will be implemented in a phased manner. Initially 100,000 sq.ft. of panels will be installed at the Valladolid and Palencia plants in Spain and 300,000 sq.ft. will be covered at the Busan site in South Korea. That will be done by the end of this year. The rest of the sites will follow soon.
