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World’s largest solar park to produce aluminium for BMW

The world's biggest solar park located just outside of Dubai, UAE, now powers the production of aluminium used exclusively in BMW Group vehicles.


Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) – who holds a long-standing supplier relationship with BMW – has entered in agreement with Dubai electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) to receive power for its aluminium smelter from the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar park.

The current solar capacity of the park is 1013 megawatts – or more than 1 million kilowatts – of photovoltaic solar panel. The most-commonly installed solar array on a residential property in Australia is four kilowatts.

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It will supply 560,000 megawatt hours of power annually to EGA, which is sufficient to produce 40,000 tonnes of aluminium. The raw product will then be sent to BMW Group's light metal foundry in Landshut, Germany, for processing.

BMW claims the switch to solar-powered aluminium sourcing alone will see its European plant's emission reduction target reached by almost 50 per cent. It currently processes around 90,000 tonnes of aluminium, with half expected to come from EGA's renewable energy solution in 2021.

This is not the first time BMW Group has lent on renewable energy for production. Four wind turbines at its Leipzig facility in Germany have been generating green energy for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle manufacturing since 2013.

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Justin Narayan

After more than a decade working in the product planning and marketing departments of brands like Kia, Subaru and Peugeot, Justin Narayan returned to being a motoring writer – the very first job he held in the industry.

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