Nissan has been given the green light to install an additional 20MW solar farm at its UK plant, a milestone for its EV36Zero project and the company’s journey to carbon neutrality.

The development is the first of ten additional solar farms planned under Nissan EV36Zero, announced in July with an initial £1bn investment from Nissan and its partners in future electric vehicle manufacturing, a new Envision AESC 9GWh-capacity gigafactory (announced in October) and Sunderland City Council’s renewable energy Microgrid.

The new 20MW installation, for which planning permission has now been granted, will double the amount of renewable electricity generated at Nissan’s Sunderland plant to 20 per cent of the plant’s needs. Work will begin on the development immediately, and installation alongside the plant’s existing wind and solar farms is expected to be complete by May 2022. Plans for a 1MW battery storage system using second-life Nissan EV batteries, will help to balance demand on the grid.

The solar farm is being developed and installed by partner company Engenera. Nissan began integrating renewable energy sources in Sunderland in 2005 when the company installed its first wind turbines on site. These 10 turbines contribute 6.6MW power, with the existing 4.75MW solar farm installed in 2016.

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