Thousands of solar panels have been installed at two AkzoNobel sites—in Garcia, Mexico, and Barcelona, Spain—as the company continues to accelerate toward its ambition of cutting carbon emissions in half by 2030. The Garcia installation of 1,650 solar panels at an industrial coatings site is already complete, while work to install 1,600 roof panels is underway in Barcelona. These are the latest in a series of solar projects around the world that aim to help AkzoNobel reduce energy use by 30% and move to 100% renewable electricity by 2030.

“We’re already using renewable electricity at 33 of our locations in eight countries and have installed solar panels at 14 facilities,” said Wijnand Bruinsma, AkzoNobel’s program manager for Sustainability. “The latest two projects will make an important contribution to our continuing efforts to significantly increase these numbers as we strive to achieve our ambition of cutting our emissions by 50% by 2030.”

Covering more than 5,300m² of space, the Garcia installation will generate 82% of energy requirements, making the site almost self-dependent; it will eventually produce more energy than it normally consumes. “We’re very happy to see this project come to life,” said Juan Francisco Garcia, site manager. “Initiatives such as this will help Mexico contribute to the company’s ambition to become carbon neutral and use 100% renewable energy.”

Due to be completed by the end of January next year, the installation in Barcelona will generate 15% of the site’s overall energy consumption. It joins two other AkzoNobel locations in Spain (Vilafranca and Vallirana) where solar panels have already been installed.

AkzoNobel currently uses 100% renewable electricity in eight countries: Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Estonia, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. For more information, visit www.akzonobel.com.