BENTLEY CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF SOLAR POWER AT CARBON NEUTRAL ‘DREAM FACTORY’ WITH NEW GENERATION OF SOLAR PANELS

• Work begins on next generation of solar panels at UK headquarters
• Installation will take the number of panels on the Crewe factory to 36,418 
• Total area of 60,911 m2 – equal to nine football pitches 
• Able to generate 10 MW of power in total – enough to power 2,370 homes per year
• Capable of delivering up to 75 per cent of the plant’s daytime electrical demand on average and can peak at 100 per cent 
• Announcement is part of Bentley’s Beyond100 strategy to be end-to-end carbon neutral by 2030
• New panels installed in collaboration with 3ti – UK’s leading designer of solar car parks 

(Crewe, 22 June) Installation started today at the Bentley Motors carbon neutral ‘dream factory’ in Crewe to increase the number of on-site solar panels to 36,418. The announcement coincides with the 10th anniversary of the first solar panels at the Pyms Lane site, where all Bentley models are built. The solar panels cover an area of 60,911 m2 – the equal to nine football pitches or 311 tennis courts. 

The additional state-of-the-art panels are highly efficient and produce nearly 60 per cent more power per panel as the original units, which date back to 2013. They will add another two megawatts to energy generation on the Bentley site, bringing a total of 10 MW of generation capacity. It is estimated that the combined systems with 36,418 solar panels will produce up to 75 per cent of Bentley’s daytime electricity demands on average, based on May 2023, and can peak at 100 per cent. This is equivalent to the energy needed to power more than 2,370 homes per year. The new panels are due to be operational by November, reducing the equivalent CO2 emissions by 407,477 tonnes per year. 

The installation on ten existing roof structures at the plant is just the latest phase in Bentley’s efforts to harness the power of the sun. In 2019, the UK’s largest solar-powered car port was installed at the Bentley site in Crewe. All electricity used to manufacture Bentley cars is solar, or certified green. The solar panels are being installed in collaboration with 3ti – the UK’s leading designer of solar car parks.

Sebastian Benndorf, Director of Production Planning at Bentley Motors, added: 

“The exciting addition of further solar panels at our Crewe headquarters support Bentley’s ongoing commitment to its Beyond100 strategy, to ensure the highest levels of luxury sustainable mobility. It is part of a vision to transform a 103-year-old luxury car company into new, sustainable role model for the entire automotive industry.

“Beyond100 is the culmination of two decades of innovation and achievement. The transformation across Bentley’s entire operation and product range is gathering pace as we move towards end-to-end carbon neutrality by 2030.”

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Notes to editors
3TI
3ti - 3 technology infrastructure - is the UK’s leading designer, installer, funder and operator of Solar Car Parks (SCPs).  We do this by integrating mains electricity with solar power, Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and EV charge points to generate renewable energy from car parks. The 3ti team is responsible for the two largest SCPs in the UK, at Bentley Motors, Crewe and JP Morgan Chase, Bournemouth, has delivered multi-site projects for the Ministry of Defence and is working on a portfolio of projects for the NHS. The company has already installed around 10 MWp of solar PV across some 2,500 parking spaces around the country and launched an award-winning mini pop-up solar car park and EV charging hub, Papilio3, the first of which were deployed to Surrey Research Park in Guildford and Bentley Motors in Crewe.