The recent commissioning of a solar power plant on the roof of the Salzburger Aluminium Group's factory buildings at the Schwarzach/Pongau site is an important element of the company's sustainability strategy. The 1200 square meter solar plant can generate an average of up to 230,000 KWh of electricity per year. Compared with electricity from non-sustainable sources, this can save more than 20 tons of CO2. This is the equivalent of 928 trees planted. In combination with energy from its own hydropower, SAG will thus use 100 percent green electricity for tank production in Schwarzach. As part of the Group-wide sustainability program, further investments in solar plants are planned, including for the headquarters in Lend. The company's own Achen power plants have always covered a good part of the electricity requirements of the Austrian plants and, at the same time, supplied households in the region with green electricity from hydropower.
As an internationally active company, the Salzburger Aluminium Group has set up the Group-wide sustainability program across all countries. After all, environmental protection is a global issue. The CO2 reduction measures extend to all areas of the company: from the successive increase in the recycling share of raw aluminum, to electricity generation from renewable energy sources, from short delivery routes to the economical use of all resources, from digitalization to the sustainable conversion of processes, from structural climate protection measures to the promotion of sustainable mobility among employees.
SAG CEO Dr. Karin Exner-Wöhrer commented: "With the commissioning of the solar plant in Schwarzach, we have taken an important step towards the Group-wide expansion of energy generation from solar power. At other sites, we have already been using solar power for years. Overall, we are helping to protect the climate with our wide range of sustainability measures at all our sites. This is very important to us, because as a family business, you always think about the next generations as well."
On the product side, SAG also makes a significant contribution to climate protection with numerous innovations that serve more sustainable mobility - such as the development of the first cryo tank system for trucks powered by liquid hydrogen. For this, the company was awarded a special prize as "Leading Innovator" at the GreenTech Awards 2020/21.
SAG: Global player with local footprint at nine locations in Europe, Mexico, USA and Canada
Salzburger Aluminium Group (SAG) is an Austrian family-owned company with 1100 employees worldwide in Europe, Mexico, the USA and Canada. The headquarters of the company - which goes back to Salzburger Aluminium AG founded in 1898 - is in Lend/Salzburg. Other SAG locations in Austria are in Schwarzach/Pongau and Vienna. SAG is represented by subsidiaries in the Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Mexico, the USA and Canada. As the market leader for aluminum tanks for trucks, SAG is a global supplier to many well-known OEMs. Other products include lightweight components for chassis, air reservoirs, compressed air tanks and special components for the passenger car, commercial vehicle, railroad and special vehicle industries. The company is the technology leader in the field of cryogenic tanks for LNG & LH2 (liquid natural gas & liquid hydrogen) and was the first company to bring rheocasting (special casting process for aluminum components) to series maturity. The export quota is over 90 percent. Suppliers include major truck and automotive manufacturers as well as OEMs in the rail and special vehicles sectors. Sales of the entire group of companies amounted to around EUR 207 million in 2021.
