Mercedes said on 24 May it had signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with German energy developers UKA, which will install around 20 turbines at the test track.
The wind farm will have an estimated capacity of around 120MW with the approval process to start before the end of the year. Mercedes said turbine installations could begin in 2024, and the site could be producing power by 2026.
Mercedes has signed various PPAs with wind developers in an effort to use a greater share of renewable energy to power its operations.
The company agreed to purchase electricity from a 140MW portion of Spanish utility Iberdrola’s 300MW Windanker Windanker (300MW) Offshorenorth-east of Rügen, Baltic Sea, Germany, Europe Click to see full details offshore wind farm in the German Baltic Sea in March, with another agreement sees energy for a Mercedes plant purchased from the 45.1MW Taczalin Taczalin (45.1MW) OnshoreTaczalin, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Poland, Europe Click to see full details wind farm in Poland.
Mercedes plans to halve emissions per passenger car over the car’s entire lifecycle by the end of the decade compared with 2020 levels. The company is aiming to increase the share of renewable energies in its total energy consumption used at production sites to 70% by 2030.
A Mercedes spokesperson told Windpower Monthly almost half of the company's production energy needs was powered by renewables at present. "Today, 45 per cent of the total energy consumption in production is covered by electricity from renewable sources, largely thanks to a 100 percent green power supply."
