Volkswagen is making progress towards its goal of carbon-neutral production by 2050 after announcing that it is upping the percentage of renewable energy sources at its plants from 70% to 90% in 2020.
The external supply of power at the Volkswagen brand’s 16 plants around the world, excluding in China, has already been switched to 70% green electricity from renewable sources. “We want to significantly increase the amount of green energy bought in at our plants this year from 70 to 90%,” said Andreas Tostmann, Volkswagen Brand board of management member for production and logistics.
In addition to this, Volkswagen is focussing on natural gas for its own power generation and is switching its power plants that produce their own power in Wolfsburg from coal to natural gas.
The supply of power for the production operation in Wolfsburg currently in the process of being switched by 2022 to highly efficient combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants will run in cogeneration mode. The CO2 emissions from generating electricity and heat will go down as a result by 60% or around 1.5 million tons a year. That is said to be the equivalent to the emissions of around 870,000 cars.
The result of the Volkswagen power plants switching energy source will help to contribute to the stability of the national grid and power system in Germany.
