American arm of German automaker Volkswagen has unveiled a 9.5MW solar power installation at an assembly plant in Tennessee.

The solar installation is spread over a 33-acre park and is expected to produce 13GWh of electricity per annum.

Located next to the Chattanooga plant, the solar installation will meet 13% of its energy needs during production hours.

Volkswagen Chattanooga operations head Frank Fischer noted, "We are proud to power up the biggest solar park of any car manufacturer in North America."

The solar installation was built by German manufacturer Phoenix and will be owned and operated by the Silicon Ranch Corporation.

Volkswagen concluded a 20-year power purchase agreement with Silicon to procure the energy produced by the facility for captive consumption.

The company had earlier employed solar power at its main plant in Wolfsburg, Germany and a factory in Emden.