To mark World Environment Day, Maruti Suzuki India today announced the commissioning of a 5 MW carport-style photovoltaic solar power plant in Gurgaon, the site of its second manufacturing plant. The company had announced the plan for this green energy plant on May 29, 2019.

With an investment of more than Rs 20 crore, the new solar power project will offset 5,390 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, for the next 25 years. Additionally, it will give an output of 7,010 MWH of power annually.

Harnessing solar power has been a constant endeavour for Maruti Suzuki. The company had set up its first solar power plant of 1 MW at the Manesar facility in 2014, which was further upgraded to 1.3 MW in 2018. With the latest project, Maruti Suzuki’s total solar power capacity has increased to 6.3 MW.

Commenting on the carmaker's green initiatives, Kenichi Ayukawa, managing director and CEO, Maruti Suzuki India, said, “We are committed for enhancing sustainable manufacturing and to achieve self-sufficiency in many of our functions. The new solar power plant will complement our efforts to adopt environment-friendly technologies and lower the carbon footprint. We are consistently exploring new ways to harness the abundantly available clean resources and implement them in our business operations.”

The 5 MW solar power plant will cater to the internal energy requirements of the Gurgaon facility by synchronising with the captive power plant. As a unique feature of this state-of-the-art plant, photovoltaic solar panels of the power plant will also work as a roof for the newly constructed car parking area.