Yokohama Rubber‘s Shinshiro-Minami, Japan plant began production of its Advan Sport EV ultra-high-performance summer tire for electric vehicles (EVs) and other high-performance tires using electric power from a new proprietary solar panel power generation system. After being put into official operation this August, the plant is also using renewable energy-generated electricity that the plant has been procuring since April.
The new solar panel power generation system has an output of about 1.1 MW and is projected to generate about 1,469 MWh per year while reducing CO2 emissions by about 599 tons per year, Yokohama said. The new system is receiving subsidies under the Japanese Ministry of the Environment’s FY2021 Subsidy for CO2 Emission Control Measures.
The renewable-energy electricity being used at the Shinshiro-Minami Plant is considered to be derived 100% from renewable energy sources and deemed to generate zero CO2 emissions as electric power provider Chubu Electric Power Miraiz Co. procured FIT non-fossil fuel certificates with tracking information and non-FIT non-fossil fuel certificates with renewable energy attributes for the electricity being provided to the plant. Yokohama said the Shinshiro-Minami Plant’s shift to renewable-energy electricity is expected to reduce the plant’s annual CO2 emissions by about 570 tons.
Yokohama Rubber is aiming to realize carbon neutrality and has set a long-term target of achieving net zero CO2 emissions by 2050. As part of this effort, the company said it aims to turn its Shinshiro-Minami Plant, its main plant for high-performance tires for passenger cars, into a carbon-neutral model plant with zero CO2 emissions by 2030.
