Energias de Portugal (EDP) is set to install solar power at the automotive components factories of French company Faurecia in China, South Korea, Japan and a number of other countries.
EDP will install up to 100 megawatt-peak (MWp) of distributed solar power at Faurecia units across more than 60 locations.
The project, which will cover plants at Faurecia units in Portugal, Spain, Italy, the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Thailand, should be complete by the end of 2023.
Faurecia was established in China in 2008 and by the end of 2020 employed 19,720 staff in 70 plants focussing on automotive seating, clean mobility, interior systems and electronics; sales in the Chinese market reached 2.563 billion euros.
EDP said that the deal with Faurecia is the largest distributed solar energy project to date carried out by the group, as well as the first to be installed simultaneously with the same partner on several continents.
The investment in the panels will be the responsibility of EDP, as well as their maintenance and operation, through long-term contracts.
Over the next decade, the 60 projects should have 200,000 solar panels, avoiding more than 60 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2).
“This partnership demonstrates EDP’s capacity to respond to multinational clients which seek to contract decentralised solar energy in different countries to support the energy transition on a global scale,” said EDP CEO, Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade.
Patrick Koller, chief executive of Faurecia, said that renewable energy production is a central point in the commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2025.
In Europe and Brazil, EDP has already installed about 300 MWp of distributed solar in buildings and land for both homes and businesses.
In the US and Asia Pacific, EDP entered this market through EDP Renováveis, with the acquisitions of the North American C2 Omega and the Asian Sunseap.
EDP aims to install more than two gigawatts (GW) of distributed solar energy in homes and businesses by 2025, CLBrief reported.
