A solar energy park is due to be developed by Audi in partnership with energy firm E.ON on the roofs of two logistics centres of its plant in Győr in Hungary, which covers about 160,000 square meters. The construction of the roof system will start in August 2019, while the renewable energy generation will start at the beginning of next year.

“We are committed to the economical use of resources and therefore want to keep the environmental impact of our production as low as possible. Approximately 70 percent of Audi Hungaria’s heat requirements are already covered by climate-neutral, geothermal energy. Our goal is to have completely CO2-neutral plant operation in the future. With the construction of the solar-cell park, we are now taking a further step to achieve this in terms of power supply,” said Achim Heinfling, Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi Hungaria.

Audi will be providing the roof areas of the two 80,000 square meters logistics centers for the construction of the solar energy park, as part of the joint project with E.ON Hungaria. From its part E.ON will build and put the park into operation, consisting of 35,000 solar cells, and will continue to operate it, with an annual output of more than 9.5 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity.

This corresponds to the annual energy requirements of 5,000 households. Thanks to green electricity from regenerative sources, about 6,000 tons less carbon dioxide will be released into the air.

“Our company is committed to solutions supporting a sustainable future. The widespread use of solar energy is an integral part of this endeavor. We are pleased that E.ON has gained Audi Hungaria’s trust and a new, nearly 25-year partnership has started between the two companies,” added Zsolt Jamniczky, E.ON Hungaria’s Board member.