Texas may be known as an oil state, but it's also a sprawling and sunny state, making it a good place to set up solar panels.
Toyota hopes to take advantage of that when it completes the move of its North American headquarters from Torrance, California, to the Lone Star State next year.
The Japanese carmaker's campus in Plano, Texas, will eventually feature a solar-power system capable of generating nearly 7.75 megawatts of power.
DON'T MISS: North America's largest coal power plant to become 44-MW solar farm
When completed, the system will provide approximately 25 percent of the campus' power needs, Toyota claims.
The system will be installed in phases, beginning next year.
The first phase will include solar arrays covering two parking garages, with 2.45 MW of capacity per garage.
Toyota breaks ground on new HQ in Plano, TX (Jan. 20, 2015)
That phase will be done by August 2017, while a 2.83-MW installation on a third parking garage will be completed in December 2017.
The complete solar installation will reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by 7,122 metric tons (7,850 tons), Toyota claims.
Toyota announced its move to Plano, a suburb of Dallas, in 2014, and broke ground on the new headquarters site last year.
ALSO SEE: Georgetown, Texas: Far From Green, But 100 Percent Renewable Energy--Why?
The new campus will consolidate operations from the current California headquarters, as well as offices in Erlanger, Kentucky, and New York City.
Toyota is expected to maintain some presence in those locations after the Plano headquarters is completed.
The company's current Torrance, California, headquarters already has a solar-power system covering 53,000 square feet of rooftop.
Toyota Plano, Texas, solar diagram
Over the past few years, Toyota also installed solar panels at a parts center in Ontario, California, and assembly plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi, and an engine plant in Huntsville, Alabama.
It also provided used Camry Hybrid battery packs for use in an energy-storage system for a solar array at Lamar Buffalo Ranch in Yellowstone National Park.
MORE: Used Toyota Hybrid Batteries Repurposed At Yellowstone National Park (May 2015)
Other carmakers have also made significant investments in solar energy to power their facilities.
Volkswagen uses a 33-acre solar field to provide up to 12.5 percent of the power for its factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which builds the Passat mid-size sedan.
Nissan uses a combination of solar panels and wind turbines at the Sunderland, U.K., plant that builds the Leaf electric car for the European market.
_______________________________________________
