Mustang Coupe

Make
Ford
Segment
Coupe

Ford has just announced a new solar power plant in Valencia, Spain, to help reach its target to become carbon neutral across its European footprint of facilities by 2035. The Ford Almussafes vehicle manufacturing facility has installed an impressive 2.8 megawatts of photovoltaic electricity power and plans to expand that power resource by 2.2 megawatts in the coming months.

Most major manufacturers are getting serious about sustainability, investing millions and, in some cases, even billions into new EV plants that will produce a new wave of carbon-neutral vehicles. But environmentally friendly vehicles are no good if they are produced using dirty facilities, so Ford is doing what it can.

Ford has committed to selling only zero-emissions electric vehicles in Europe by 2035, and part of that plan is to clean up its manufacturing processes too. The new plant began operating late in 2022 and makes use of photovoltaic processes that convert solar energy into electricity. Ford decided to use a large swathe of non-productive land on the premises to cover with solar panels. There are two zones of solar panels capable of producing enough power to run 1,400 average Spanish homes per year. The plant currently produces close to 4,641 megawatt-hours per year, and by this summer, the plant will be able to produce an additional 3,762 MWh per year. The eventual goal is to expand operations to reach 10 MW of peak power by 2024.

"Now, more than ever, we all realize the need to use renewable energy sources," said Ford of Europe's Stuart Southgate. "As we move to an all-electric future and carbon neutrality across our manufacturing footprint at Ford, investments in innovations like this new solar power plant in Valencia create new self-supplied renewable energy, which is an important contribution to our ongoing ambition to help build a better world."

Ford's Spanish plant focuses on producing engines and also does bodywork and assembly. The plant currently manufactures engines like the 2.0-liter EcoBoost and 2.3-liter EcoBoost engines used in vehicles such as the Ford Explorer, Edge, Everest, Mustang, and others. This plant is Ford's largest manufacturing complex outside of the United States and has a production capacity of nearly 500,000 vehicles per year. The plant will produce electric vehicles in the future.