Solar strategies in practice: BMW Brilliance’s "iFACTORY" drives green manufacturing with massive solar parking lot

Global automotive leader BMW is redefining the future of production. At its Shenyang manufacturing base in China, the company has integrated solar energy into its "Lean. Green. Digital." strategy, culminating in a 21.35 MW solar parking lot that powers sustainable mobility from the ground up.

As the automotive industry races toward a carbon-neutral future, the focus has shifted beyond just building electric vehicles (EVs) to decarbonizing the actual manufacturing process. For the BMW Group, sustainability is not an add-on; it is the central tenet of their corporate strategy. This commitment is most visible in their BMW iFACTORY master plan, a global production strategy aiming to reduce CO2 emissions per vehicle in production by 80% by 2030 (compared to 2019 levels).

In this edition of Solar Strategies in Practice, we look at how BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA), the joint venture in the city of Shenyang responsible for BMW production and sales in China, is turning this vision into reality with one of the automotive industry's most impressive solar assets.

Turning parking lots into renewable energy assets helps meet Net Zero goals

China is BMW’s largest single market and home to its largest production base globally. With high energy demands required to produce millions of vehicles - including the fully electric BMW iX3 and i5 - the Shenyang plants faced the dual challenge of securing stable energy costs and aggressively lowering their carbon footprint.

To meet BMW’s stringent Net Zero 2050 goal, the company needed to maximize every available square meter of its facility for renewable energy generation, moving beyond standard rooftops to utilize infrastructure that is often overlooked: parking lots.

Using LONGi solar technology to build a 21.35 MW high-efficiency solar carport

Located in the Dadong district in Shenyang, the BMW Brilliance Automotive Dadong Factory is a pioneer of the iFACTORY concept. To power its operations with green electricity, the plant utilized its expansive parking area to construct a massive distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) system. To ensure the project met the rigorous standards of the "iFACTORY" strategy, BMW Brilliance chose LONGi to supply the core technology.

The resulting 21.35 MW commercial and industrial project at the Shenyang Dadong Plant in Liaoning demonstrates the scale of green manufacturing. By deploying LONGi high-efficiency modules, the solar plant focuses on reliability and yield to maximize energy generation per square meter, even in variable light conditions. This strategic choice allows the carport to generate consistent power for the factory grid while simultaneously providing shade and protection for the finished vehicles and employee cars parked beneath.

Avoiding over 18,000 tons of CO2 annually closes the sustainable production loop

The scale of the Dadong solar parking lot translates into immediate, tangible environmental benefits. By generating electricity on-site, BMW Brilliance significantly reduces its reliance on the traditional grid and fossil fuels. This shift delivers a massive annual environmental impact, generating approximately 23.51 million kWh of clean energy and avoiding around 18,442 tons of CO2 annually. To put this in perspective, the carbon reduction achieved by this single project is equivalent to planting roughly 1 million trees every year. This green energy feeds directly into the production lines that build the very electric vehicles designed to decarbonize our roads, creating a perfect closed loop of sustainability.

Scaling on-site solar as part of BMW’s global iFACTORY strategy

The BMW Brilliance Dadong project demonstrates that "Solar Strategies in Practice" are about selecting the right technologies for intelligent asset utilization. By transforming a passive parking lot into an active energy asset with LONGi’s advanced PV technology, BMW has strengthened its energy resilience and taken a massive leap toward its 2030 sustainability targets.

This project is a pillar of a much larger global strategy. In Europe, BMW is currently scaling its on-site generation, most notably with a 43 MWp solar park at its new plant in Debrecen and a massive 14 MWp rooftop expansion across its Dingolfing and Regensburg sites in Germany. These initiatives, combined with the use of aluminum produced using solar electricity for the energy intensive smelting process in the supply chain, illustrate a comprehensive commitment to decarbonizing the entire industrial value chain. As BMW continues to roll out its iFACTORY strategy worldwide, the Dadong solar carport serves as a shining example of how Fortune Global 500 companies can effectively embed solar technology into the core of their industrial operations.