The Sun Shines on Toyota in Putnam County! What About the Rest of West Virginia?
Is this for real or a scene from “Star Wars?”
From an Article by the Staff of WCHS-TV, February 6, 2023
PUTNAM COUNTY, W.Va. (WCHS-TV) — New power sources that resemble flowers have sprouted up around the Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia plant in Buffalo in Putnam County.
Five SmartFlower solar arrays were recently installed to help power the facility’s services buildings that house the uniform and footwear stores, credit union, clinic and pharmacy, according to a news release from Toyota.
Three EV charging stations also are being powered by the solar arrays, the company said.
Company officials said the solar arrays “bloom” at sunrise and follow the sun’s path throughout the day. With the arrays keeping a 90-degree angle to the sun, the power captured is optimized over traditional solar panels, the company said. The flowers fold back up at sunset.
“This is just one more way Toyota West Virginia is embracing alternative energy and reducing our ecological footprint here in the Mountain State,” David Rosier, Toyota West Virginia’s president, said in the news release.
Toyota said it also has the largest solar array in the state. Located behind the plant, the array can generate 2.6 megawatts – enough to power more than 400 homes. The company said the solar generation reduces the Buffalo plant’s CO2 emissions by an estimated 4 million pounds per year.
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See Also: Smartflower Solar Review: Beautiful Solar That’s Not Worth It, Andrew Blok, CNET, May 5, 2022
Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. In the solar panel industry, one company has charted a different path. It’s producing solar electricity, not with rooftop panels or a traditional ground mounted rack, but with solar powered sunflowers.
Smartflower Solar offers what it calls “sculptural” solar: an array of panels that unfurls in the morning, tracks the sun across the sky and folds up at night. It looks like a large, mechanical flower. Smartflower turns solar into a statement as well as a conversation piece and does both with a pretty simple installation process. But while some customers may prefer Smartflower’s look, it comes at a premium. Beautiful design with a high price tag are why most of the company’s customers are organizations, not homeowners.