Volkswagen Builds Largest Solar Facility In The World At Its US Plant
Photo credit: Volkswagen
The Volkswagen brand has inaugurated its Newest Largest solar facility in the world located at its US plant in Chattanooga. The German automaker has continued on its path to end the era of conventional engines and move towards an electric future. The Volkswagen Chattanooga Solar Park has a peak output of 9.5 megawatts and is the largest solar facility operated by an automaker in the USA. At the dedication ceremony, dignitaries flipped a giant light switch to signal the official opening of the “Volkswagen Chattanooga Solar Park”.
The Volkswagen Chattanooga Solar Park stretches to a total of 33 acres, which is half of the 66-acre land where the state-of-the-art manufacturing plant is located. The plant consists of 33,600 crystal solar modules that have been installed on an area of 13 hectares. The expected annual output of the plant is about 13,100 megawatt-hours per year, which is equivalent to the amount of energy used by 1,200 homes, according to Volkswagen. Volkswagen has set its intentions on using the power from the solar plant directly in production, the power provided is about 12.5 percent of the electric power necessary for full-capacity operation.
Frank Fischer, CEO, and Chairman of Volkswagen Chattanooga said: “We are proud to inaugurate today the largest solar park of an automaker in the USA. This facility is a key part of our “Think Blue. Factory.” program and further proof of Volkswagen’s worldwide commitment to environmental protection. Once again, we are setting standards in efficient, sustainable production.”
The Chattanooga plant is home to a workforce of over 3,000 employees, tasked with producing many vehicles but mainly the popular new Volkswagen Passat specially manufactured for the North American market. Volkswagen Chattanooga has already received several awards as a result of its extreme environmental compatibility at the plant. In December 2011, Volkswagen was the first automaker in the world to receive the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification.
A Look Into Volkswagen’s Chattanooga Facility
The Volkswagen of America group operates a large manufacturing plant located in Chattanooga, Tennessee which was built to support the production of the 2011 Volkswagen Passat. The facility is currently undergoing an expansion to accommodate Volkswagen’s highly anticipated electric family vehicle lineup, adding the latest technology to help prep assembly lines.
The Chattanooga Assembly Plant currently has an estimated unit production of about 150,000 Volkswagen vehicles. Volkswagen has recently announced that the Chattanooga Assembly Plant would be tasked with manufacturing the long-awaited ID.6 and the ID. Buzz MicroBus. The Chattanooga plant has been a huge help to Volkswagen, making the United States a major hub of production for Volkswagen, at its peak production Chattanooga was responsible for 85% of North American Passat vehicles.
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