Solar Power Revolution: PepsiCo Leads the Way in Poland
With a 3.5 MWp capacity, PepsiCo has opened the biggest solar farm in Poland to date in Święte, Lower Silesia. This is a component of its USD 5 million investment this year to build its renewable energy sources.
The manufacture of well-known products like Lay’s will be aided by this investment, which is a major step in PepsiCo’s attempts to lessen the environmental effects of all of its businesses.
Over 6,000 bifacial photovoltaic modules—which have more effective cells on both sides of the panels—were installed on an area of roughly two hectares in the first phase of the project, which was just finished. This allowed the modules to reach a capacity of 3.5 MWp (megawatt-peaks).
The most sophisticated PepsiCo facility in the European Union, located in Święte, Lower Silesia, uses 11.7 GWh of power annually. After this investment is finished, solar energy will provide 2.8 GWh annually, or 24% of the entire energy requirement. The needs of the plant will receive all of the electricity produced by the photovoltaic farm.
On sunny days, PepsiCo intends to use the new photovoltaic installation to supply all of the energy required to run the eRBS electric oven, which bakes Lay’s Oven Baked chips. Additionally, the business anticipates that the installation will completely meet the energy requirements of the new Lay’s Oven Baked production line, which is set to open in the middle of next year.
“For several years now, we have been transforming our PepsiCo Positive (pep+) strategy, setting a new direction for our actions for the planet and people. Investing in renewable energy sources is a strategic direction for us, which we plan to continue in Poland in the coming years,” Ugur Bulduk, E2E Vice President PepsiCo, mentioned.
Other Lay’s potato chip production lines will be powered by any extra energy produced by the new solar farm that isn’t needed by the oven or the new Lay’s Oven Baked production line.
“The scale of this investment is reflected in the installation of 2 km of medium-current power lines. The panels are oriented east-west to optimize energy production in line with the consumption profile of our factory,” Tomasz Bronny, Director of the PepsiCo plant in Święte, added.
The solutions implemented at the Święte plant are the next stage of PepsiCo’s strategic transformation. In mid-2024, the company launched two additional photovoltaic farms at its plants in Michrów and Żnin, aiming to increase solar power capacity to 6 MWp by the end of the year. The energy transformation also includes the logistics center in Suchy Las.
