June 9 – Chinese company Yingli, winner of the NetEase ‘Best Sports Marketing Award’ for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, will be bringing solar energy to the world stage again, powering the Arena Pernambuco and Maracanã Stadium in Brazil.
Together with FIFA, World Cup official sponsor Yingli aim to make this the greenest World Cup tournament in history. 1,556 Yingli Solar panels have been installed on the roof of the Maracanã stadium in a joint project with Light ESCO, EDF Consultoria, Schlaich Bergermann und Partner, and the State of Rio de Janeiro.
The project will produce enough electricity to power 240 homes annually, preventing the release of more than 2,560 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.
Frederico Addiechi, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility of FIFA commented that: “Sustainability is one of the key tenants in our vision for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
We hope this landmark project will be the catalyst to spur other football stadiums that may install solar PV systems across Brazil, serving to increase the production and use of
renewable power in the country.”
A similar project has seen the brand new Arena Pernambuco, home to five games in the World Cup, now powered with clean energy from a 1MW solar power plant. The ground-mounted solar installation, for which Yingli partnered with Grupo Neoenergia, and Odebrecht Energia, contains more than 3,650 high-efficiency Yingli Solar panels. The panels will supply 30% of the stadium’s needs on match days whilst delivering power to the local electricity grid throughout the year.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter praised the project saying: “Large-scale solar projects like this one are contributing to increasing the positive impact of the FIFA World Cup on society and the environment. We are grateful to Yingli and their local partners for helping us leave a lasting legacy in Brazil.”
For Yingli, who also sponsor US Soccer and Bayern Munich, the World Cup is an important opportunity to extend into emerging markets, especially as the company faces swingeing tariffs in the US as part of an escalating trade war against Chinese solar panel producers.
Dimitrios Bachadakis, managing director of Yingli Green Energy SEE GmbH commented on Yingli’s football marketing saying, “In football, we saw a platform that unites people and at the same time have a social aspect to go along. What was better than choosing football as a platform to transport our message? We decided to take up this pioneer position to step in with an agreement with FIFA for the first time in South Africa, and now in Brazil.”
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