Ardagh group adopts solar at packaging manufacturing plants in Europe

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Luxembourg-based Ardagh Group is installing solar PV systems at several of its packaging manufacturing sites in the United Kingdom and Europe. The latest is a 1.75 MW rooftop system installed at a glass packaging facility in Irvine, Scotland.

The company teamed with Ireland’s ESB Energy to install 3,842 panels on two warehouse rooftops with the capacity to produce 1,584 MWh annually and supply 25% of the electricity required by Ardagh Glass Packaging Europe (AGP-Europe) facility, with the rest sourced from a renewable energy supplier.

“This solar installation is another step forward in enhancing the sustainability of our operations at Irvine, as well as reducing the amount of electricity we take from the grid. It shows our commitment to decarbonizing the glass containers we produce, while maintaining the highest standards of quality and excellence,” the AGP-Europe Irvine plant director Graeme Shepherd said in a statement.

Ardagh Group also recently installed solar on-site for similar reasons at its facilities in Dongen, Moerdijk and Oss in the Netherlands. More than 24,700 solar panels across three locations generate about 12,677 MWh per annum, according to the company.

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The three sites were developed by Amsterdam-based Zoncoalitie, an independent solar project advisory that was spun out from a PV industry association in 2020, and Rotterdam-based power company Eneco.

The largest of the three PV plants in the Netherlands is installed at an AGP-Europe glass plant in Dongen with 8,000 MWh annual output. It is a rooftop plus ground mount installation, where the ground mount is the larger share of the installed capacity. The Moerdijk installation is a rooftop plant, generating 2,500 MWh per annum, and Oss is also rooftop at 1,897 MWh per annum.

The solar PV installations are part of Ardagh Group’s strategy to invest to enable it to use 100% renewable electricity by 2030 and reduce its carbon footprint.

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