Novelis Inc., a sustainable aluminum solutions provider and a leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, has announced the construction of its first solar park at the company’s production site in Pieve Emanuele, Italy. Local authorities granted their final approval for building the more than 28,000 square meters large solar park, which is scheduled to start generating electricity by end of this year.
Novelis is investing $2.4 million in decarbonizing its production in Pieve, further supporting the development of low-carbon, sustainable aluminium solutions for the European market.
The solar park ́s annual production of around 4,000 MWh will enable the plant to switch a large portion of its energy sources from carbon-intensive to renewable ones. “Investing in renewable energy generation is crucial to decarbonizing our
operations and meeting our sustainability goals,” said Emilio Braghi, executive vice president, Novelis Inc., and president, Novelis Europe. “Further increasing our capabilities to supply aluminum produced with a lower CO2 footprint will also enable us to help our customers reduce their scope three emissions and achieve their decarbonization goals.”
Located in the south of Milan, Novelis’ Pieve plant is an ideal location to build a solar park as it has a large unoccupied area with high sun exposure.
Novelis has the target to reduce its carbon footprint by 30 percent by 2026, and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 or sooner. Besides its strong focus on energy efficiency initiatives and recycling, Novelis will continue to seek opportunities to decarbonize its operations by switching to renewable energy sources.