Climate neutrality as a target: MAHLE produces green energy in Spain

ENERGY & UTILITIES

  • A new photovoltaic system supplies 3,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of green energy per year to the MAHLE plant in Montblanc, Spain
  • The system is the fifth of its kind Group-wide and also the most powerful, with a 2,200 kilowatt peak (kWp)
  • With a reduction of around 700 metric tons of CO2 per year, it is a lighthouse project in MAHLE’s CO2 reduction plan
  • MAHLE wants to achieve climate-neutral production in all its plants by 2040

At its Spanish plant in Montblanc near Barcelona, MAHLE has connected the group’s most powerful photovoltaic system, with a 2,200 kilowatt peak (kWp), to the grid. The 10,000 m2 enclosure with an annual output of around 3,000 megawatt hours (MWh) reduces around 700 metric tons of CO2 per year. Group-wide, it is the fifth solar plant that produces green energy. The others include a facility in Parma, Italy and one at a plant near India’s capital, New Delhi. MAHLE has thus reached the next milestone in its CO2 reduction plan and becomes more and more independent from fossil fuels and fluctuating prices in the energy market. The company plans to achieve carbon-neutral production at all its plants by 2040.

“We planned and built the photovoltaic system in about a year. With it, we can cover about ten percent of our annual power needs and significantly reduce our CO2 emissions,” says Roger Gombau, plant manager at MAHLE Montblanc.Power from its own photovoltaic systems is only one measure in MAHLE’s CO2 strategy, which the Group is driving forward with a high level of financial commitment. In addition, the group plans, for example, to further increase energy efficiency in production and development, to source climate-neutral energy, or to offset the remaining emissions.In Montblanc, Spain, around 800 employees manufacture thermal management components and systems for heating and cooling that are used in both electric vehicles and vehicles with conventional drives. Thermal management is one of MAHLE’s key areas on the path to sustainable mobility, which plays an important role in electrification.