Car manufacturer Toyota (7203.TYO) has officially opened its solar panel energy park at its Burnaston production plant in south Derbyshire, UK.
The 17,000 solar panels cover an area of around 90,000m2 and the 4.6GWh facility is expected to enable Toyota to generate sufficient electricity to build 7000 cars annually at the site. With 5% of Burnaston’s energy derived from the sun, the company is forecast to save 2000t of CO2 emissions per year.
The GBP10m project was realised in partnership with British Gas, which paid for and installed the panels. The energy company will benefit from the feed-in tariff.
Tony Walker, deputy managing director of Toyota Manufacturing UK, said: “This marks a further significant step in our journey towards low carbon and sustainable manufacturing. The solar array development is a key part of our ‘sustainable plant’ vision in which our production facilities are designed to work in harmony with our local community and surrounding environment. Our aim is to be a true eco-plant producing eco-cars built by eco-minded people.”
In addition to the solar park, Toyota also installed a solar glass “wall” replacing existing windows and “brise soleil” sunshade of solar panels above a window.
