Toyota's big solar array gives UK plant enough energy to make 7,000 cars a year

As the iconic double-decker buses and cups of tea in the image above clearly hint, this story is about something in the UK. Specifically, about how Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK is going to become the first car manufacturer in the UK to put up a large-scale solar panel array. How big is "large-scale." Well, this big (that takes you to the full-size infographic Toyota released, which says the array is made up of 17,000 solar panels, about 4.3 soccer pitches big (pitches > football fields). That means there is enough power created in a year (4.6 million kWh) to build around 7,000 cars. That sounds good (and, well, it is) but it's still only around five percent of the energy needed at Toyota's Burnaston plant, where Toyota makes the Auris hybrid, Auris and Avensis.

Toyota worked with British Gas on the project, which will be operational in July. There's a bit more information in the video after the jump and, of course, in the big infographic.

[Source: Toyota]