BMW Opts For ‘Solar Aluminium’

• BMW will source solar aluminium from EGA under a 'three-digit million euros' contract
• The German company will use this solar aluminium to manufacture body and drive train components, including those needed for electric drive trains
• EGA will procure solar power to produce its CelestiAL brand of solar aluminium from MBR Solar Park for which it signed a contract with DEWA in January 2021

BMW, the German automobile manufacturer, announced it has entered a 'three-digit million euros' contract with Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) to procure 43,000 tons of 'solar aluminium' or aluminium produced using solar energy from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park (MBR Solar Park).

In January 2021, EGA signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) to procure 560,000 MWh solar power annually from the MBR Solar Park to produce 40,000 tons of aluminium in the 1^st year with potential for further expansion in the future. The company will sell such aluminium under CelestiAL brand name, it said back then (see Solar Power For Aluminium Production In Dubai).

With the contract kicking into force with immediate effect, BMW thus becomes the 1^st and the exclusive customer for clean energy produced CelestiAL aluminum from EGA.

BMW will process this aluminium at its light metal foundry at BMW Group Plant Landshut in Germany which is the group's only European manufacturing facility for light metal casting, to be used to manufacture body and drive train components, including those needed for electric drive trains. The 43,000 tons of solar aluminum will supply close to half the annual requirements of the foundry, explained the German company.

Since aluminium directly obtained from the mineral compound alumina contributes to about 60% of the global aluminium industry's GHG emissions, BMW believes solar power to produce aluminium is an 'effective lever' to reduce the CO2 emissions associated with aluminium smelting.

By 2030, BMW aims to have over 7 million electrified vehicles on the roads with 2/3^rd being full electric and to meet this target in a sustainable way, BMW shared that it is working with its suppliers.

"Aluminium is light, strong and infinitely recyclable. That is why it plays such an important role in the development of a more sustainable society and in making modern life possible. But how sustainably the aluminium is produced is also important," said EGA CEO Abdulnasser Bin Kalban. "Solar aluminium is a step in the right direction – it uses a natural and abundant source of energy in our desert environment to produce a metal that is vital to the future of our planet."