Parkersburg auto dealer weighs in on Toyota solar energy deal
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PARKERSBURG -- A new solar energy deal with Toyota will be good for the environment, a local dealer said.
Toyota Motor North America announced an agreement with Savion for 100 megawatts of electricity to be generated at the Savion Martin County Solar Project in Kentucky. Savion is converting the former Martiki Coal Mine, a brownfield site on the border of Kentucky and West Virginia, into a clean solar photovoltaic energy facility.
The once-active mountain top mine closed in the 1990s.
Converting the site to produce energy is a great idea, T.R. Hathaway of Superior Toyota said.
"That's a heck of a place to put solar panels," Hathaway said.
Such projects will utilize the landscape, he said.
"It's wonderful to use these sites to generate solar energy," Hathaway said.
The project also is another step in America utilizing all sources of energy, Hathaway said.
"We want to use all of our resources to power our homes, businesses and churches," Hathaway said.
Toyota is the only automaker in West Virginia and has a plant in Kentucky. Engines and transmissions are made at the plant at Buffalo, W.Va., and the Camry is made at Georgetown, Ky.
The Martiki site has clear access to light from the sun, making it ideal for reclamation and the installation of solar photovoltaic panels for electricity generation, Toyota said in a release.
Construction is anticipated to begin in mid-year 2023 and operation is expected in 2024.
The Martin County Solar Project is an example of how renewable energy can bring new opportunities to former coal and energy communities and will help Toyota achieve its goal of increasing purchased renewable electricity to 45 percent or more of its total purchased electricity by 2025, David Absher, senior manager of environmental sustainability at Toyota Motor North America, said.
"It is important that renewable power is more available to large-scale U.S. energy buyers, and converting brownfields like this offers a path forward for former energy communities to take advantage of the infrastructure they already have with transmission lines while providing clean energy to the grid," he said.
The energy Toyota will acquire from the project will help reduce its carbon footprint in North America and will supplement the model it has created of environmental stewardship in Kentucky where Toyota's largest manufacturing plant in the world is located, the company said. Toyota plans to make all North America operations carbon neutral by 2035, the company said.
Savion is developing the Martin County Project with Edelen Renewables, a local development partner. Upon completion, the facility will be among the largest solar energy facilities in Kentucky.
"We are thankful for the local community, community officials, state officials, and the many local professionals that have supported this project," Kevin Butt, regional environmental sustainability director at Toyota Motor North America, said.
Jess Mancini can be reached at jmancini@newsandsentinel.com.