Environmental management at NORD’s sites: Gadebusch now also relies on solar power

With NORD’s plant in Gadebusch, Fertigungstechnik NORD is the main consumer of the nearby solar park in Lützow. Source: Theresa Franz/SVZ

From sunshine and waste heat to renewable energy supply 

In future, NORD DRIVESYSTEMS’ site in Gadebusch will draw around a third of its required electricity from a nearby solar park in Lützow. The plant is thus consistently continuing its efforts to become less reliant on fossil fuels. This is part of the group-wide sustainability strategy that the system provider for drive technology set out. 

A big day for Lützow: The municipality in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, with a population of around 1,500, commissioned a 3.5-hectare solar park in June 2026. Together with photovoltaic modules installed on the roofs of two halls, the entire system is expected to generate 6.2 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. The largest consumer is a company belonging to drive manufacturer NORD DRIVESYSTEMS: Fertigungstechnik NORD in Gadebusch, which is about a 10-minute car drive away, takes advantage of the nearby solar park and will draw 2.67 million kilowatt-hours per year from the photovoltaic system. This accounts for approximately a third of its required electricity.

24/6 manufacturing requires large amounts of energy
The electricity demand is high. At its site in Gadebusch, NORD manufactures housings, shafts and worm wheels on six days a week, all day long. In five halls, over 180 employees are working on more than 80 machines and 60 interconnected systems. Every year, almost two million components leave the plant that is characterised by a high level of automation.

Every site contributes to achieving NORD’s sustainability targets
Part of the NORD DRIVESYSTEMS Group’s sustainability strategy is to continuously increase the self-produced electric power and the use of renewable energy. The company thus aims to achieve its target of reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030 (compared with the base year 2024). At different sites of the NORD Group, respective projects involving the use of renewable power are being implemented.

Becoming less reliant on fossil resources
The individual sites, such as Fertigungstechnik NORD in Gadebusch, thus make important contributions to achieving the group’s targets. Getting connected to the solar park is the plant’s latest effort to becoming less reliant on fossil resources. In 2012, a heat recovery scheme was launched and implemented step by step. Since then, plate-type heat exchangers have been ensuring that excess heat from the production machines is dissipated and used to heat factory halls, offices and hot water. The recovery system operates without additional heating when outdoor temperatures are above 0 °C. This alone helps Fertigungstechnik NORD save around a third of the 583,000 kWh of fossil heat energy it previously used each year.

The efforts made by Fertigungstechnik NORD are an example of how NORD strives to become less reliant on fossil fuels. Source: NORD DRIVESYSTEMS