Valmet Automotive has signed a supply contract for fossil-free district heating to the Uusikaupunki car plant. Together with the earlier supply contract for fossil-free electricity, the car plant has already reduced its CO2 emissions by 70 % since 2019. The car plant is aiming at carbon-neutral production by the end of 2021.

Valmet Automotive has entered into the contract with a local district heat supplier VSV-Energia for the Uusikaupunki car plant. Based on the contract, only fossil-free district heat produced by wood chips, biogas and industrial waste heat, is now used at the car plant. The production will be verified annually by a third party.

– Valmet Automotive’s carbon dioxide-free district heating supply contract is exceptionally large in Finland. The production of carbon dioxide-free heat has been our goal for a long time, and this agreement is an important milestone in the cooperation of VSV-Energia and Valmet Automotive, says Mika Salo, Production Director of VSV-Energia Oy.

In January 2020, Valmet Automotive signed a supply contract, under which the car plant is using only fossil-free electricity. With this measure, the car plant’s CO2 emissions were almost halved, and the introduction of fossil-free district heating will reduce the plant’s CO2 emissions to less than a third of last year’s level.

– Carbon-neutral production is a top priority for Valmet Automotive. It is our intention to be a leading sustainability company in our industry, and with fossil-free electricity and district heating, our car plant is approaching the goal of carbon-neutral production even faster than planned, says Pasi Rannus, SVP Manufacturing, Valmet Automotive.

The Uusikaupunki car plant will achieve carbon-neutral production by utilizing fossil-free and renewable alternatives in electricity and energy production, reducing energy consumption, improving energy efficiency and compensating for the remaining CO2 emissions with internationally standardized programs.

Additional information:

Mikael Mäki, Manager, Corporate Communications, Valmet Automotive
Mobile: +358 50 317 4308
mikael.maki(at)valmet-automotive.com

Image bank available at https://www.valmet-automotive.com/media/

www.valmet-automotive.com
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The Valmet Automotive Group is one of the largest vehicle contract manufacturers in the world, Tier 1 systems supplier to roof systems and a key development partner to the global automotive industry. In its strategic development, Valmet Automotive Group focuses on electromobility with developing and supplying modules as well as battery systems. The activities in the group are divided into the four business lines: Manufacturing, Engineering, EV Systems and Roof & Kinematic Systems. Since its founding in 1968, Valmet Automotive has produced more than 1.5 million vehicles at the Uusikaupunki, Finland plant. In Salo, near the Uusikaupunki plant, Valmet Automotive opened its first volume production of batteries for the automotive industry in autumn 2019. The company has locations in Finland, Germany, Poland and Spain. The largest shareholders in the Valmet Automotive Group are state-owned Finnish investment company Tesi and the Pontos Group, each with a stake of 38.46 percent. 23.08 percent is held by the Chinese Contemporary Amperes Technology Limited (CATL), the world’s leading manufacturer of batteries and battery cells for electric vehicles.