The BMW Group has announced that its Steyr plant in Austria, known for engine manufacturing, has transitioned away from using natural gas to relying on heat from a nearby biomass power facility. The new energy source was symbolically inaugurated by Milan Nedeljkovic, BMW’s board member in charge of production, alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The Steyr plant consumes approximately 250 gigawatt-hours of energy annually, which is sufficient to power about 59,000 households. Energy consumption at the facility has steadily declined over the years. “Since 2006, we have succeeded in nearly halving the energy required per engine,” remarked Klaus von Moltke, the Plant Manager.
Milan Nedeljkovic emphasized, “We are committed to optimizing the carbon footprint across all our production sites globally by leveraging innovative technologies and local resources to generate energy from fossil-fuel-free sources.”