UK Toyota Plant Installs Solar Panels To Generate Green Electricity
A UK Toyota plant is to start generating its own green electricity using solar panels which are being installed at the site.
Work has already started to install a £10m solar array on the Toyota site at Burnaston in Derbyshire. It means the solar panels will generate green electricity for the operations at the plant which builds the Auris Hybrid, Auris and Avensis cars.
Once work to install the panels they will generate about 5% of the power for the car manufacturing plant. It’s thought there will be about 17,000 solar panels installed at the site on 90,000 square metres of industrial land which is part of the plant.
Toyota said the solar array will be able to generate enough green electricity to build around 7,000 cars a year and at the same time it will save the manufacturer 2,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.
Not only will the installation save CO2 emissions but it will also help to reduce the company’s business energy bills at a time when business electricity prices are starting to increase.
The panels will be installed by British Gas who will also fund the panels which are set to cost over £10 million. It means British Gas will claim the feed-in tariff while Toyota benefits from free green electricity. The panels should be able to start delivering power to the plant as early as July. Toyota says it will be the first UK car manufacturer to install solar panels on a large scale.
The managing director of British Gas New Energy, Jon Kimber, said “With energy costs increasing and a tough financial climate, all businesses are looking at ways to cut their bills as well as reduce their carbon emissions. Solar power has the potential to make this happen and really revolutionise the way Britain’s homes and businesses generate energy”. He added “Toyota is a real beacon for green business in the UK”.
Meanwhile the deputy managing director at Toyota Manufacturing UK, Tony Walker said “Generating solar power on-site 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”.