Toyota Installs Solar Panel Array to Power U.K. Car Plant

Toyota says it is the first U.K. auto maker to install a large-scale solar panel array in its vehicle plant that will generate enough electricity to brew 150 million cups of tea.

Work began in June to install the ground-mounted system at the auto maker’s factory in Burnaston, Derbyshire, where the Auris, Auris Hybrid and Avensis cars are built for the domestic and export markets.

Auris Hybrid built at Derbyshire factory.

The solar array is located on 968,750 sq.-ft. (90,000 sq.-m) of industrial land within the plant grounds and consists of about 17,000 panels – enough to cover almost four-and-a-half soccer fields.

Toyota says the joint project with British Gas will help reduce the facility’s carbon footprint, support energy security and cut its electricity bill.

The solar program also will save up to 2,204 tons (2,000 t) of carbon-dioxide emissions a year, plus the equivalent of 4.6 million kWh of energy. When fully operational, it will be capable of supplying enough electricity to build about 7,000 cars annually.

The solar panels are expected to cost more than £10 million ($16.4 million) and are being installed and paid for by British Gas. The array is expected to begin supplying power to the plant this month.

Toyota U.K. Deputy Managing Director Tony Walker says the project is part of Toyota’s sustainable factory program, in which manufacturing operations are designed to work in harmony with the local community and surrounding environment.

“We are already making a significant contribution to the U.K.’s low carbon economy with production of the Auris hybrid – the first European-built full hybrid car.

“Generating solar power onsite to supply electricity to the plant underlines our commitment to do even more to further reduce our carbon footprint and is yet another example of our environmental leadership,” Walker says in a statement.

Toyota says it was the first U.K. auto maker to be awarded the international ISO 14001 standard for environmental management in 1996 and the first to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill to zero in 2002. In 2008, the company achieved zero waste to incineration.