Mercedes-Benz has just obtained a long-awaited authorisation to build its own wind farm, the blades of which are due to start turning in 2027.
In 2022, a piece of news slipped under the radar. Mercedes-Benz announced that it wanted to add a large wind farm to its legendary Papenburg test track in northern Germany. This will not only enable the company to meet its carbon neutrality targets, but also reduce its dependence on energy suppliers. This internalisation of energy production is about to become a reality, as the German authorities have given the go-ahead for work to begin.
Aiming for carbon neutrality
It will be a 140 MW wind farm, corresponding to around twenty 165 m high wind turbines, capable of powering almost 30,000 homes and, above all, covering 20% of Mercedes’ electricity needs across the Rhine. The group’s aim is to inaugurate its wind farm in 2027, as part of its plan to achieve the sacrosanct goal of carbon neutrality. Mercedes-Benz has pledged to achieve a 70% share of renewable energy in its consumption, and even intends to reach 100% by 2039.
Of course, wind power is not the automotive group’s speciality. So it has joined forces with UKA, an operator specialising in the construction and management of wind farms, to sign a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for the supply of electricity. A partnership signed for the next 25 years! Enough to ensure low-cost renewable energy for a long time to come.
With this announcement, the Mercedes-Benz Group is grasping the nettle by the horns, avoiding not only the stress of ambitious carbon neutrality targets, but also the much less manageable stress of highly volatile energy prices. By taking advantage in this way of an area that already belongs to the group, and by teaming up with a market specialist, we would like the German group to serve as a model for its competitors. And the closer you look at the Mercedes logo, the more it resembles a wind turbine… Now that’s foreshadowing !
