Having previously confirmed that tyre production would begin at the company’s Serbia factory during July, Toyo Europe executives are now specifying that tyres will begin rolling off the production line by the end of the month. When full production gets underway, the factory will be pioneering in green electricity terms since it will utilise bifiacial solar panels.
Bekaert considers the installation of a solar park within the grounds of its plant in Burgos, Spain a “significant step in progressing on the company’s sustainability ambition to reach Carbon Net Zero by 2050.” The facility at the Industrias del Ubierna SA (Ubisa) site will produce over 14 GWh of electricity per year, equivalent to the annual consumption of more than 4,000 households.
In markets where green electricity is not readily available from the grid, on-site solar power generation is an important way of bridging the green energy gap. The Maxion Wheels Saraburi plant in central Thailand is the company’s first to use solar energy to decarbonise aluminium wheel production.
As reported on 18 January, Apollo Tyres Ltd. has acquired a 27.2 per cent shareholding in a renewable energy firm, Cleantech Solar subsidiary CSE Deccan Solar. The tyre maker says the reason it did so is to gain a guaranteed annual supply of 40 million units of electricity for its manufacturing facility in Chennai. CSE Deccan Solar expects to begin delivering in July 2022, and this electricity will account for around 20 per cent of the plant’s total requirements and boost the total proportion of renewable energy to more than 30 per cent.
The Sumitomo Rubber Group’s two tyre factories in the People’s Republic of China are now operating on 100 per cent renewably sourced energy. The transition to renewable was completed this month, and Sumitomo Rubber Industries says additional measures will further increase the Changshu and Hunan plants’ sustainability credentials.
Apollo Tyres Ltd. has acquired a 27.2 shareholding in Indian solar energy firm CSE Deccan Solar, purchasing 1,166,250 shares for a total of Rs 93.3 million (approximately £919,000).
Truck and bus tyre production at Bridgestone’s factory in Thailand will result in lower CO2 emissions in future thanks to the installation of a solar power generator at the site. Bridgestone Tire Manufacturing (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (BTMT) has brought the first phase of its solar power generation project into operation at the Chonburi facility, with 2,160 solar panels installed on roofing delivering a total capacity of 1 MWp.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company,working together with energy supplier Enovos, has completed the first of two large solar power stations at its testing facilities in Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, which will provide clean energy for Luxembourg citizens. The first power station in the presence of the Minister of Energy and Land Management, Claude Turmes, the company announced on 15 September 2021.
Nokian Tyres has equipped its logistics centre in Nokia, Finland with solar power capabilities. The plant consists of 3,160 solar panels with a combined output of more than 1,100 kilowatts (kW). All electricity generated by the solar panels is used by the logistics centre, including to provide lighting and ventilation.
Back at the start of 2018, Netherlands-based tyre wholesaler Heuver achieved energy neutrality through the installation of 1,632 solar panels on the roof of its warehouse in Hardenberg. But Heuver aims to maintain its energy-neutral status even as it grows, and has therefore added a further 1,518 solar panels at the Hardenberg site. Heuver contracted Mijn Energiefabriek, which supplied the original panels two and a half years ago, to install the panels.
As reported last year, under its commitment to reduce CO2 emissions, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is working together with energy supplier Enovos to build two large solar power stations at its testing facilities in Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg that will provide clean energy for the local region. The tyre maker has supplied further details of this project, reporting that the stations will take the form of giant carports over the site’s car parks.
Two key agendas influenced Bridgestone’s decision to get involved with the World Solar Challenge (WSC). Alongside a desire to promote sustainability, the tyre maker viewed the event as an opportunity to make contact with young innovators. One such innovator was Lex Hoefsloot, whose team from Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands achieved WSC class wins with their Stella solar vehicles on four occasions. These victories became the starting point of a relationship between Hoefsloot and Bridgestone that continues to this day and will see Bridgestone Turanza Eco tyres fitted to the world’s first commercially available long-range solar electric vehicle later this year.
Solar panels installed on the roof of Nokian Tyres’ distribution centre in Vermont, USA have the capacity to more than meet the facility’s entire electricity requirements. The solar equipment’s total annual output is said to be approximately 427,500 kWh, which is 110 per cent of annual usage at the Colchester site. Excess energy will be supplied to the grid.
Heuver Tyrewholesale has gone energy neutral. Thanks to the installation of more than 1,600 solar panels on the roof of its facility in Hardenberg, the Netherlands, a project undertaken as part of the expansion of warehousing space up to 43,000 square metres, the wholesaler’s energy is now supplied in-house. Or on-house, to be precise.
Many companies in Europe are managing to reduce electricity costs in the tyre retreading process, bringing an even greater return to the business and the environment. One example is Select Tyres, located Chelmsford, which currently produces 800 tyres per month and distributes retreaded tyres throughout the UK.
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