Toyota U.K. Taps Sun to Help Run Wales Engine Plant

Toyota U.K. switches on almost 13,000 solar panels at its Deeside factory in North Wales able to produce up to nearly 3.5 million kWh a year – enough electricity to build as many as 22,500 engines.

The multimillion-dollar solar array, designed and installed by British Gas, also offers potential savings of more than 1,980 lbs. (1,800 t) of carbon-dioxide emissions a year.

The solar panels will provide up to 10% of all the electricity required for manufacturing at the site, which makes gasoline and hybrid engines for Avensis and Auris models sold throughout Europe.

The array, supplied by Tata Power Solar, took three months to install and covers an area the equivalent of almost eight soccer pitches.

Established in 1992 and backed by a total investment of £700 million ($1.16 billion), the Deeside factory, 210 miles (335 km) northwest of London, employs 570 workers.

Toyota’s Burnaston plant, 315 miles (500 km) north of London in Derbyshire, showed the way in harnessing solar power when it installed one of Britain’s largest solar arrays in 2011.

Deeside Plant Director Jim Crosbie says the investment in the new solar array marks a major advance for Deeside and Toyota Mfg. U.K. in its mission to minimize the plant’s environmental impact.

“It demonstrates that while Toyota is famous for building lower-carbon vehicles, we are just as focused on developing greener production methods and nurturing awareness of environmental issues among our members and our local communities,” he says in a statement.

“The solar array won’t just reduce our carbon footprint. It will demonstrate to the wider Welsh and U.K. manufacturing sector the tangible benefits renewable energy can deliver.”