Howard Michael, President & CEO of JTEKT Toyoda Americas, speaking about the company's solar panel installation.
(l-r) Robert Garlow, Director of Contract Administration, JTEKT Toyoda; Mark Hoefer, Facilities Manager, JTEKT Toyoda; Thomas Hayes, Mayor of Arlington Heights; Howard Michael, President, JTEKT Toyoda and his wife Barbara English; Julie Morrison, Illinois State Senator; Ann Gillespie, Illinois State Senator; Jim Tinaglia, Village of Arlington Heights Trustee; Bert Rosenberg, Village of Arlington Heights Trustee; Mark Walker, Illinois State Representative
Installation of array mounting racks in progress at JTEKT Toyoda Americas Corporation headquarters in Arlington Heights, IL.
JTEKT Toyoda Americas Corporation recently celebrated the groundbreaking of the company's largest environmental initiative: 28,328 sq. m of land consisting of 5,040 individual solar panels. The groundbreaking ceremony took place at the company's headquarters in Arlington Heights, IL.
"Toyoda has been one of the world leaders of machine tool manufacturing over the last 75 years and offers quality tools and technologies," said a company spokesperson. "The company elevates the standards of manufacturing in the automotive, aerospace, construction and energy industries." Originally founded in 1941 for the production lines of Toyota Motors, the products have expanded from metal grinding and milling technology to the advanced capabilities of gear skiving. The company consists of approximately 224 employees and is a subsidiary of the machine tool division of JTEKT Corporation. In 2016, JTEKT established the Environmental Challenge 2050 that expresses a goal of minimizing environmental burdens and maximizing environmental value across the entire JTEKT group.
The company's new eco-friendly endeavor will be located at the corporate headquarters in Arlington Heights, IL, and will consist of 5,040 individual solar panels. Once installed, the system in its entirety will be able to produce 2.3 million MW hours of power, equating to a yearly CO2 offset of 1,819 metric tons and a coal offset of almost 2 million tons/year. "Supported by a 25-year maintenance warranty, the solar field will fix property taxes and provide over $185 million in energy cost savings over its lifetime," said the spokesperson.
According to Howard Michael, President and COO of Toyoda, "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."
Thomas Hayes, Mayor of Arlington Heights, said, "This ecofriendly, green initiative will serve as a model for not only our businesses but for our residents to follow as well."
The solar panels will be built by GRNE Solar from neighboring city Palatine, IL.
The size of the solar system being installed is enough to cover Toyoda's baseload and is equivalent to powering about 230 homes.
The installation of the solar panels is currently underway and is expected to take about four months to complete.
Visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4j4bbPQZaU to watch a video of Toyoda's green manufacturing initiative.
For more information contact:
JTEKT Toyoda Americas Corporation
316 W. University Drive
Arlington Heights, IL 60004
847-253-0340
info@toyoda.com
www.toyoda.com