Toyota Material Handling France & Alight Join Hands for Rooftop Solar Plant

TMFH & Alight join hands for rooftop solar

Toyota Material Handling France (TMHFR), a leading firm in materials handling equipment, has entered into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the solar energy firm Alight. Under the power purchase agreement (PPA), Alight provides solar energy to TMHFR at its facility in Bussy-Saint-Georges Paris, France.

Alight develops, owns and manages the rooftop photovoltaic plant at the Bussy-Saint-Georges facility, and TMHFR buys the electricity generated by the plant as part of Toyota Material Handling Europe’s (TMHE) solar roll-out. In 2019, TMHE and Alight joined forces in a strategic solar energy program that paved the way for rooftop solar power systems to be installed at TMHE production and management facilities across European countries. The first solar site was built in 2020 and is located in TMHE facility in Mjölby, Sweden.

The construction of the rooftop solar site began in fall 2022, and reached completion and began delivery of clean electricity in December last year. The long term agreement with Alight will help TMHFR hedge its electricity costs, reduce its environmental impact and protect against volatility in the electricity market. The solar rooftop installation has 790 solar panels with an installed capacity of 300-kilowatt peak power (kWp). It will produce approximately 323 MWh a year. It is providing power equivalent to 25 percent of total annual electricity consumption.

“We are extremely proud to continue our collaboration with Toyota Material Handling. Industrial and commercial rooftops across Europe are largely underutilized areas, despite many being well suited for solar power generation. So it is truly inspirational to see large corporations take action to rapidly build out renewable energy, while at the same time hedging against electricity price volatility – a win-win,” said Harald Överholm, CEO of Alight. “This photovoltaic roof will help us to further reduce our environmental impact and electricity costs, while protecting us against electricity price volatility for the duration of the agreement,” stated Eric Loustau, General Director of TMHFR, while adding, “This solar power plant is a concrete example of what we are doing in terms of sustainability, an area in which we have had high ambitions for over 10 years.”

TMHE shares that it has high sustainability ambitions, is a member of the Science Based Target Initiative and certified by EcoVadis, which assesses a firm’s material sustainability. The firm reveals that is also committed to zero emissions across entire value chain by 2050 and net-zero emissions from its own operations by 2030. TMH claims to have 100% renewable energy since 2021. This solar plant will further help reduce its environmental impact and electricity costs, while protecting it against electricity price volatility throughout the course of the agreement.

A subsidiary of the Toyota Material Handling Europe group, Toyota Material Handling France employs nearly 1,000 people in France and generated a turnover of €429 million in fiscal year 2022,

Co-founded in 2013, Alight is a leading solar developer and Independent Power Producer. The firm has an entirely subsidy-free business model, and it develops, owns and operates solar projects, onsite and offsite, across Europe. By 2030, Alight is set to have an installed capacity of at least 5 GW backed with solar Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), it says. It is presently developing more than 1 GW of PPA-based projects across Sweden, with a further 170 MW under development across the rest of Europe.

In December last year, French Renewable energy player Neoen and Alight announced the signing of a PPA for 90 MWp of green energy in Sweden with the Swedish fashion retailer H&M Group.