Overview
- About 100 Wielkopolska‑breed sheep are grazing beneath and around an 18.3 MW solar park at Volkswagen Poznań’s Września factory to cut vegetation instead of mechanical mowers.
- The solar installation covers roughly 27 hectares, contains more than 31,000 modules and supplies about 25% of the factory’s annual electricity while it can meet full demand on very sunny days.
- Quanta Energy built and manages the solar park and Volkswagen reports the flock has adapted to the site and reduces the need for machinery to trim grass close to panels and cabling.
- Poznań University of Life Sciences is running a multidisciplinary study of animal welfare, vegetation, soil and microclimate, and organizers say final scientific results and quantified cost or emissions savings are still pending.
- The project is presented as an industrial‑scale example of agrovoltaics in Europe and could influence how factories use land by combining renewable power with low‑impact grazing and habitat retention.