Bentley Motors Commissions UK’s Largest Solar Carport

The solar carport system is capable of reducing the company’s CO2 emissions by nearly 3,300 tonnes every year.

Bentley Motors has raised its commitment to sustainable energy with the installation of the UK’s largest ever solar carport at its factory headquarters in Crewe, UK. This development implied that in the company’s centenary year, all the electricity used to manufacture every Bentley vehicle is solar or certified green. 

The installation of 10,000 solar panels, which have a capacity of 2.7MW, cover 1,378 car parking spaces and an area of 16,426m², enough to cover two football pitches. The system is capable of reducing the company’s CO2 emissions by nearly 3,300 tonnes every year.

Commenting on Bentley’s investment, Peter Bosch, Bentley’s Member of the Board for Manufacturing, said, “It’s important to look ahead and prepare the business for the next 100 years by investing significantly in our products, our people and our site infrastructure. This includes new initiatives that reinforce our commitment to the environment.

“Whether this is introducing alternative powertrain technologies in future models, or our award-winning work to reduce the environmental impact of our factory, these sustainable measures strengthen our desire to lead the way in sustainable luxury mobility.”

The  Bentley solar carport takes the company’s total on-site solar panel energy capacity to 7.7MW, enough to cover over 1,750 homes. This includes the 2013 rooftop installation of 20,815 panels with the total number of individual solar panels on site in Crewe now 30,815.

The carport was installed by FlexiSolar, the innovative solar carport specialist with the project backed by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency driven to support the science and technology initiatives that will grow the UK economy.

In November 2018, Fourth Partner Energy, India’s leading distributed solar energy company has commissioned a 980-kWp carport for ŠKODA AUTO India Private Ltd. at their manufacturing facility in Aurangabad, Maharashtra.

The carport structure of the designated system will cover 30 percent of the plant’s annual energy consumption by generating 1,475 MWh of power per annum. This solar power generation project is expected to substitute 759 tons of coal usage each year and the carbon offset is equivalent to planting almost 72,000 trees.