Danone has commissioned a solar photovoltaic panel plant at its factory in Aldaya (Valencia) as part of its strategy to decarbonise its facilities and operations. This is the first installation of its kind in Spain, and is the company's largest and most powerful in Europe. A total of 2.2 million euros has been invested to date in the plant.

The new photovoltaic plant comprises 5,680 solar panels that will supply the plant with sustainable energy, and a total installed capacity of 3.4 megawatts. Once fully operational, it will reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the adjacent factory by more than 735 tonnes per year.

Decarbonisation project
The initiative is part of the French company's decarbonisation project 'Re-Fuel Danone', the primary focus of which is achieving a 30% improvement in the energy efficiency of its facilities and operations by 2025 to make them more sustainable. The company is also working towards ensuring that half of the energy used will be sourced in this way by 2030.

In terms of size, the Valencia plant is the company's largest in Europe. Half of its production is exported to Europe, hence the desire to make it a benchmark facility within the group, equipping it with its own solar panel installation to cover its energy needs. The plant opened in 2002, and has since then undergone various modifications with the aim of reducing thermal and electrical energy consumption.

Zero waste, renewable energy and water optimisation
In terms of waste generation, all of Danone's Spanish plants recover and reuse 100% of the plastic waste they generate, and have been awarded zero waste certification. They also have contracts to guarantee the renewable source of the electricity they consume. In terms of water consumption, measures are in place for the optimisation, monitoring and reuse of water.
As head of maintenance engineering at the Aldaya plant, Borja Martí, explained, “The transformation of our plants and production centres is a key part of the cross-cutting global strategy we are implementing to provide value to consumers, and it is essential that this is done by decarbonising our operations and offering solutions to the challenges we face in the fight against climate change”.

Among these solutions is the pact the company signed with Iberdrola in 2021 to guarantee the supply of green energy to all its production centres, logistics centres and offices through a long-term sale and purchase agreement, and which led to an investment of 300 million euros to construct Europe's largest solar power plant in Extremadura.

^{Photo: Danone}