Arnall Golden Gregory is the presenting sponsor of Global Atlanta's Germany Channel. Subscribe here for monthly Germany newsletters.
A $50 million expansion that will more than double Porsche’s footprint at its headquarters and track complex near the Atlanta airport will include a solar array in a bid to lower its carbon footprint.
The German sports car maker’s new digs and expanded track will include enough solar panels to produce 2,050 megawatt hours, enough to power 191 average homes and offset the emissions of 3.6 million miles of driving.
The installation starting next year will also source renewable power to charge the on-site models of the Porsche Taycan, the all-electric sedan that customers can try out on the track built nearly a decade ago as the centerpiece of its second Porsche Experience Center in the U.S. Just 10 are in operation globally, including one in Los Angeles that opened after Atlanta’s.
Porsche will buy the power from Cherry Street Energy, which will own and operate the on-site micro-grid and sell the power to the company on a 25-year operating agreement. Cherry Street has provided power directly to the City of Atlanta, Fulton County and Emory University, among other large clients.
Porsche says the solar move is part of a larger sustainability plan that is playing out as it adds 33 acres track to the existing 27-acre plot. In addition to the track extension, the site will include a new Porsche Classic Factory Restoration Facility and a parking deck. Already, a south Atlanta service center has opened on site.
The panels will adorn the tops of buildings and a new 950-foot covered walkway extending from the parking lot to the headquarters building.