In a first step, the company is covering a parking lot of around 4,000m2 with 1,500 solar panels, the largest of such project to date in Luxembourg, Goodyear said in a statement.

The first solar carport in the country opened in Esch-sur-Alzette in January this year, counting 772 solar panels, producing enough electricity for 93 households or the equivalent of 1.4m kilometres travelled by electric car.

Under a climate protection plan, Luxembourg aims to install more solar panels, for example on top of public buildings including schools, as well as incentivising industry and businesses to use rooftops for clean energy.

A first phase of the Goodyear project should be completed by August 2021, with a second solar power station to become operational next year. The project is being developed together with energy supplier Enovos.

When finished, both stations will produce around 5GWh of electricity per year and save around 50,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions over 20 years.

“Thanks to this project we will produce local green and carbon-free energy for Luxembourgish citizens, “said Xavier Fraipont, Goodyear’s vice president for product development in Europe Middle East and Africa. “We are pleased to help the Luxembourgish government in its goal to switch to 100% renewable energies."

“Solar energy is the energy of the future,” said energy minister Claude Turmes. “I am therefore very pleased that Goodyear, an industrial actor of the north of the country, is joining this development and consequently helps to convince even more players that photovoltaic energy is not only beneficial for the climate, but also for the economy.”