US solar developer Avantus and Toyota Tsusho America (TAI) have completed construction at the 159MW Norton Solar Project in Texas.
The project, at which construction began in August 2024 and achieved “substantial completion” in October 2025, is located in Runnels County, in central Texas. TAI has signed a virtual power purchase agreement (PPA) with Toyota Motor North America to sell the entirety of the project’s output.
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“Avantus delivered on their promises throughout the construction of the Norton Solar Project,” said Akihiro Yoshida, Vice President of TAI Norton Solar, which first acquired the project from Avantus in November 2023; Fausto Perez, Avantus’ EVP of engineering and construction added that the successful deliver of projects like Norton Solar form “the foundation of our reputation and our partners’ trust”.
Avantus remained involved in the project to oversee construction, which was completed by engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm RES. The news follows Avantus’ signing of a PPA in December 2024 for a 100MW solar PV project in Arizona, at which the company expects to begin commercial operations this year.
The company has a total development pipeline of around 24GW of solar capacity, alongside 75GWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in the western US; while the Norton project does not have a co-located BESS component, this week has seen a number of project developments in the US solar-plus-storage space, including projects from Sunraycer and Idemitsu Renewables.
After five editions of Large Scale Solar USA, the event becomes SolarPLUS USA to mirror where the market is heading. The 2026 edition, held in Dallas, Texas, on 24-25 March, will bring together developers, investors and utilities to discuss managing hybrid assets, multi-state pipelines, power demand increase from data centres and AI as well as the co-location of solar PV with energy storage in a complex grid. For more details and how to attend the event, visit the website here.
