“It is important that renewable power is more available to large-scale US 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,” said David Absher, senior manager of environmental sustainability at Toyota Motor North America.

Toyota said what was previously an active coal mine on the top of a mountain that closed in the 1990s, the Martiki site has clear access to light from the sun, making it suitable for reclamation and the installation of solar photovoltaic panels for electricity generation. Construction on the project is estimated to begin in mid-2023 and commercial operation is expected in 2024.