Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) has upped the ante when it comes to solar power usage at its manufacturing plant in Oragadam near Chennai. With the completion of a major addition to the plant’s existing photovoltaic installations, the overall technical capacity has increased from 0.8 to 3.3 Megawatts.

The new solar power field, built on previously idle stretches of land within the plant’s highly modern commercial vehicle test track area, consists of more than 10,000 new polycrystalline photovoltaic panels. With the upgrade, the share of solar power now covers more than one-fourth of the average daytime electrical power need of DICV’s operations on site.

Commenting on the milestone, Marc Llistosella, president and CEO of MFTBC and Head of Daimler Trucks Asia said: "At Daimler worldwide, we minimise negative effects from our activities with the help of effective environmental management systems and state-of-the-art technologies. This project is a perfect example of how Daimler Trucks Asia promotes climate protection, conserves valuable resources and contributes to the preservation of a livable environment."

Erich Nesselhauf, MD and CEO, DICV, added: "Various green production efforts have been an integral part of our DICV manufacturing plant and operations from the start. The massive expansion of our solar power facilities underlines our commitment to be an industry leader with regard to sustainability and environmental protection as well."

Driving sustainability efforts

DICV says its environmental management system is certified by the renowned institute UL-DQS according to global standards of the ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management System certification. The company’s environmental and sustainability efforts cover various aspects of its operations.

Since the start of operations at the Oragadam plant, which is spread over 400 acres, over 16,000 trees have been planted, as part of ongoing efforts in order to ultimately make the entire site one of India’s greenest industrial complexes.

Water management is another focus, ensuring that the precious resource is used as sparingly as possible, and that no water leaves the plant. These efforts include rainwater harvesting with a huge storage pond holding more than 60,000 kilolitres of water, and two sewage treatment plants which return clean water that can be used e.g. for irrigation. Dedicated state-of-the-art facilities are also used to handle, store and dispose of hazardous materials and harmful effluents within the plant complex.