Toyota’s Massive UK Solar Farm Powers 7,000 Cars Annually While Grid Sleeps

A green transformation is taking place at Toyota’s UK manufacturing plants. Not content with just making hybrid cars, the automotive giant has gone full eco-warrior by plastering solar panels across its facilities. The Burnaston plant in Derbyshire now boasts a massive 90,000 square meter solar array. That’s roughly four and a half football pitches covered in 17,000 UK-made panels. Not too shabby.

The numbers are impressive. Really impressive. This solar behemoth pumps out about 4.6 million kilowatt-hours annually, enough juice to manufacture 7,000 cars each year. And it’s not just for show – the array cuts carbon emissions by up to 2,000 tonnes annually. That’s equivalent to 260 double-decker buses. Imagine that many buses stacked up. You can’t, can you?

Toyota didn’t stop at Burnaston. Nope. In 2014, they doubled down on their solar obsession with another installation at their Deeside engine plant in Wales. This one’s spread across eight football pitches with 12,700 panels generating 3.47 million kilowatt-hours yearly. That’s enough to crank out 22,500 engines while slashing CO₂ emissions by over 1,800 tonnes – the weight of 1,260 Auris hatchbacks. This approach aligns with Australia’s remarkable progress where rooftop solar capacity now exceeds total installed coal generation capacity.

Toyota’s solar fever spread to Wales in 2014, covering eight football pitches and churning out enough power for 22,500 engines.

These weren’t solo efforts. Toyota partnered with British Gas to make these solar dreams reality. Smart move. The Deeside array now provides up to 10% of the plant’s electricity needs. The solar farm in Clwyd has a nameplate capacity of 3.8 MW, making it a significant contributor to Toyota’s renewable energy portfolio. Free power from the sun? Yes, please. The groundbreaking project required an investment of over £10 million but is already proving its worth in both environmental and financial terms.

Both sites now serve as flagship models for Toyota’s global “Sustainable Plant” initiative. They’ve earned Toyota bragging rights as the first UK car manufacturer with industrial-scale solar arrays. Other automakers are probably kicking themselves for not thinking of it first.

In an industry not exactly known for environmental friendliness, Toyota’s showing that manufacturing and sustainability can play nice together. Who knew making cars could be this green? Well, Toyota did, apparently.