JTEKT Toyoda Americas Breaks Ground on Seven-Acre Solar Panel Project

JTEKT Toyoda Americas Corp. recently celebrated the groundbreaking of the company’s largest environmental initiative: 28,328 square meters (about 7 acres) of land that will eventually be covered by 5,040 individual solar panels. The groundbreaking ceremony took place August 23, 2019, at the company’s headquarters in Arlington Heights, Illinois, where the company’s executives and employees, vendor partners, and local politicians gathered to announce and celebrate green initiative.

In 2016, JTEKT established the Environmental Challenge 205 with the goal of minimizing environmental burdens and maximizing environmental value across the entire JTEKT group.

Once installed, the solar panel system is expected to produce some 2.3 million megawatt-hours of power, amounting to a yearly CO₂ offset of 1,819 metric tons and a coal offset of almost 2 million tons per year. Installation of the solar panels is expected to take about four months. 

“The solar panels will drastically offset our annual global power consumption and have an immense impact on our environmental footprint and electrical savings for decades to come,” says Howard Michael, president and COO. 

At the groundbreaking event, Arlington Heights Mayor Thomas Hayes expressed enthusiasm for the project: “This ecofriendly, green initiative will serve as a model for not only our businesses but for our residents to follow as well.”