Ford South Africa is making strides in sustainability. The automaker’s Silverton assembly plant is now running 35% of its energy on solar power. Silverton, in Pretoria, is Ford’s flagship factory and is currently manufacturing the new Ranger for the domestic and export markets.
The solar power comes from 3610 photovoltaic (PV) carports, which have been installed by SolarAfrica. This solar array uses over 30 000 solar panels mounted to the roof of the carports at the Silverton plant. In total, 13.5 megawatts of green energy is produced by the solar panels, making it one of the largest solar carport projects in the world.
Ford is a long-term direct customer of Formex Industries. The automotive components and assemblies manufactured by Formex are used on Ford vehicles. Formex also celebrates the huge leap towards sustainability and renewable energy by Ford. It’s a positive sign of the trajectory of the South African automotive sector.
2022 Ford Ranger ©Ford Media
Ford sets big goals for sustainability
In addition to this impressive solar energy project, Ford has set large global targets for all of its manufacturing facilities. These include 100% carbon-free electricity generation by 2035 and complete carbon neutrality by 2050. This solar project puts Silverton and South Africa at the forefront of these global targets.
“We are delighted to officially flip the switch and begin receiving 35% of our electricity from the solar carports with the completion of the first phase of our Project Blue Oval renewable energy programme,” says Ford SA operations vice president Ockert Berry.
“Through the long-term power purchase agreement with SolarAfrica, this project will also significantly reduce our energy costs, thereby improving the efficiency and cost competitiveness of the plant,” he adds.
2022 Ford Ranger ©Ford Media
Ford’s solar project in numbers
This solar project not only increases Ford’s production capacity to 200 000 vehicles per year but also delivers on the company’s promise of reducing its environmental impact and contributing to a cleaner and more sustainable future. The PV installation created 121 jobs and took less than two years to complete.
The project required 59 tonnes of steel and 315 tonnes of aluminium for the PV frames and carport structures. Over five kilometres of cabling was used to connect the PV cells to the 120 inverters and eight transformers that feed into the Silverton plant. The entire system produces enough energy to power 224 000 lightbulbs or around 12 200 homes for an entire year.
In total, the solar energy produced by the carports will eliminate 20 072 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year. This marks a major step toward Ford’s carbon emissions targets for 2035. “With the solar project now complete and fully operational, we are evaluating the next steps for Project Blue Oval as we strive to ultimately have the Silverton plant completely energy self-sufficient and 100% carbon neutral,” says Berry.
Ford recently invested R15.8-billion in the Silverton plant ahead of its new Ranger programme. This helped to turn Silverton into a world-class facility and one of the brand’s leading assembly plants. Formex is proud to have a long-standing partnership with Ford. For more information about our automotive components and products, please contact us today.
Formex Industries is a metal forming and assembly company that supplies a variety of complex products to the local automotive industry and the export market. The company is based in the Nelson Mandela Bay metropole, South Africa’s foremost region for automotive manufacturing and export.
Formex is a Level 2 B-BBEE supplier. The company is owned by Deneb Investments Limited – a subsidiary of Hosken Consolidated Investments Limited (HCI) – one of South Africa’s biggest true B-BBEE companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).
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