Mazda is extending its use of on-site solar power purchase agreements to its Miyoshi Plant and its new Mazda KD Center. At Miyoshi, surplus solar power will be stored in a battery system built from new automotive lithium-ion batteries. Both projects are part of the carmaker’s goal of carbon-neutral manufacturing worldwide by 2035.
Three pillars towards a 2035 target
Mazda Motor Corporation says it aims to make its global manufacturing facilities carbon neutral by 2035. The company has set out three areas of work to get there: energy conservation, a shift to renewable energy and the introduction of carbon-neutral fuels.
The latest announcement falls under the renewable energy pillar. Mazda will expand its use of on-site power purchase agreements (PPAs) to two more locations: the Miyoshi Plant and the Mazda KD Center, which the company says is due for completion in November.
Under an on-site PPA, as Mazda describes it, a power producer installs solar generating equipment on the customer’s premises. It then supplies the customer with the renewable electricity produced there, together with the environmental value attached to it. The customer uses clean power generated on its own site without owning the hardware.
Battery storage at the Miyoshi Plant
At Miyoshi, ORIX Corporation will act as the PPA provider and install the solar equipment. The electricity it generates will be used on site. Any surplus will go into a battery energy storage system that, according to Mazda, uses new automotive lithium-ion batteries.
The stored energy can then be drawn on when demand for electricity is high. Mazda says this will let it make effective use of surplus solar output and reduce peak electricity demand at the plant.
Sharing surplus value at the KD Center
ORIX is also the PPA provider at the Mazda KD Center and will install solar equipment there as well. In this case, the environmental value of the surplus electricity will be used by Toyo Kohan Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of steel sheet products. Mazda defines environmental value as the worth of renewable electricity beyond the power itself, including the value of the CO₂ emissions it avoids.
Mazda says these arrangements will help increase the use of renewable energy across the region’s entire supply chain, not just at its own facilities.
What it means
The announcement is about how Mazda’s factories are powered rather than about its cars, but it matters for the company’s wider climate commitments. Emissions from manufacturing and the supply chain are a growing focus for carmakers alongside tailpipe emissions. Mazda’s model links an energy provider, the carmaker and a supplier, so surplus power at one site can count towards decarbonisation at another business in the same region.
Mazda says it wants to support the region’s sustainable development and industrial competitiveness by testing and introducing a range of carbon-neutral technologies with its partners. The company adds that it will keep working with like-minded partner companies on renewable energy and on creating a positive impact on communities, the environment and society.
The Mazda KD Center is scheduled for completion in November.
Source: newsroom.mazda.com