SunPower will be designing and constructing a 7.75-MW solar power system at Toyota’s new North American headquarters in Plano, Texas, which the auto maker plans to occupy next year. Expected to generate 25 percent of the headquarters’ total electricity demand, the system is anticipated to be the largest corporate office onsite solar installation among non-utility companies in the state of Texas.
The project will be comprised of three solar carport structures using high efficiency SunPower solar panels. Two of the carports will each have a 2.45-MW capacity, and are planned to be operational mid-year 2017. The third, 2.83-MW solar carport is expected to be delivering power for the Toyota campus by end-of-year 2017.
Compared to conventional solar panels, SunPower says its solar panels produce 45 percent more power from the same space in the first year of operation, which will allow Toyota to maximize the clean, renewable solar power generated on site.
SunPower solar power systems are currently operating a number of Toyota facilities in the U.S.:
• In 2008, at the Toyota North American parts center in Ontario, Calif., SunPower installed a 2.3-MW system that produces more than 3.7 million kWh per year, providing up to 58 percent of the electricity needed at the facility. At the time of completion, it was the second largest single-rooftop solar array in North America.
• Toyota’s South Campus headquarters building in Torrance, Calif., was one of the largest privately funded systems of its kind when it opened in 2003. Also built by SunPower, the system covers 53,000 square feet of rooftop.
• Since 2009, a 1.5-MW SunPower solar power system has been operating at Toyota’s facility in West Caldwell, N.J.
— Solar Builder magazine
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.