Mercedes-Benz AG and the energy park developer UKA have received official approval to begin construction on a new wind farm at the automaker’s test track in Papenburg, northern Germany. The project will see the installation of 20 wind turbines with a total capacity of 140 megawatts (MW) by 2027.
The wind farm is a key part of Mercedes-Benz’s sustainable business strategy. Once commissioned, the facility is expected to cover approximately 20% of the Mercedes-Benz Group AG’s annual electricity needs in Germany. The automaker’s goal is to operate all its production facilities worldwide with 100% renewable energy by 2039.
A green partnership:
The project is a collaboration between Mercedes-Benz and UKA, with additional partners contributing to the construction. The turbines will be supplied by German manufacturer Nordex, and the concrete components for the towers will come from Max Bögl Wind AG.
Jörg Burzer, member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, stated that the project is a tangible step toward the company’s sustainability goals. “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,” he said.
A flagship project for UKA:
Gernot Gauglitz, managing partner of the UKA Group, noted the significance of the project. “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,” he said. “The wind farm on the Mercedes-Benz testing area is a flagship project in our portfolio of onshore wind farms currently under construction in Germany.”
The wind farm will be built on the 800-hectare Papenburg test track, which has been used for research and development since 1998. The project actively supports the expansion of onshore wind energy in Germany and is part of Mercedes-Benz’s broader plan to expand its green energy portfolio, which also includes an offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea.
