Volkswagen’s Polish plant gets a quarter of its power from a sheep-grazed solar farm

An 18.3 MW photovoltaic farm now grazed by a flock of 100 sheep supplies roughly 25% of the annual power needs at Volkswagen’s manufacturing plant in Poznań, Poland, and can meet the factory’s entire electricity demand on bright, sunny days, according to a report by Electrek.

The installation, built and managed by Berlin-based Quanta Energy, spans more than 31,000 solar panels across land that also now functions as a working sheep pasture. Rather than deploying mechanical mowers between the rows of panels, Volkswagen brought in the flock to naturally trim the grass, including vegetation growing directly under the panels, while the panels themselves offer the animals shade on hot days.

The Poznań site builds the Volkswagen e-Crafter commercial van among other models, and keeping its sprawling solar field trimmed had been no small task before the sheep took over vegetation management. Volkswagen is now working with Poznań University of Life Sciences to study how the grazing arrangement affects animal welfare, biodiversity, soil quality, vegetation and the site’s microclimate.

“Today, the photovoltaic farm delivers much more than green electricity. It has also become a place that supports biodiversity, local agriculture, and scientific research,” said Marzena Pillich-Grońska, director of Volkswagen Poznań.