Mercedes-Benz and energy park developer UKA have announced they have received approval to commence the installation of a wind farm at the Mercedes-Benz test track in Papenburg, northern Germany. This project, planned to generate 140 MW, will become one of Germany’s most powerful onshore wind farms, providing approximately 20% of Mercedes-Benz’s annual electricity requirements in the country.
The wind farm’s construction aligns with Mercedes-Benz’s 2023 commitment to cut CO2 emissions from production by 80% by 2030. This initiative is part of broader targets to increase renewable energy to 70% of the company’s energy needs at production sites by 2030 and to ensure all global production plants operate on 100% renewable energy with zero CO2 emissions by 2039.
Joerg Burzer, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, stated, “The wind farm in Papenburg is an important building block of our sustainable business strategy – from an ecological and also an economic perspective. The start of construction impressively illustrates that we are consistently putting our ambitious sustainability goals for the production network into practice and thus achieving a measurable impact.”
The project, situated on the 800-hectare Papenburg test track, forms part of a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with UKA. It will feature 20 wind turbines provided by German manufacturer Nordex, with a total nominal output of 140 MW, and is expected to be completed by 2027.
Gernot Gauglitz, Managing Partner of the UKA Group, expressed pride in the partnership, stating, “I am proud of the fact that we, as owners of the future wind farm, will be supplying Mercedes-Benz AG with electricity for the next 25 years. This project shows that UKA, which generates its own climate-friendly electricity, is an attractive supplier of electricity even to large industrial corporations.”
