EvoEnergy completes UK’s fourth largest rooftop solar array
Commercial solar PV developer EvoEnergy has completed the fourth largest rooftop PV system in the UK for Lyreco, a global office and workplace solutions provider, with the installation of a 3.811 MWp solar array at its national distribution centre in Telford.
The install, made up of 13,860 panels, was fitted on to the roof of the firm’s 15-acre logistics site between October and January to cut its carbon footprint and is one of only five rooftop systems in the UK to exceed a yearly output of 3.2 GWh.
It was the largest rooftop PV system to be completed in the UK in 2015 and is the second largest on a single building. It was also the first in the country to use large central inverters more commonly used for solar farms, bringing ground mount centralised inverter technology to a rooftop installation for the first time.
Owned and operated through a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement by Addison Energy – a company funded by Guinness Asset Management’s EIS service – the system will save Lyreco more than £53,000 a year on its energy bills, as well as cutting annual carbon emissions by 1,700 tonnes – making the whole site carbon neutral in terms of electricity usage.
Nick Dacey, logistics director for Lyreco, said: “We have a large warehouse here in Telford with a large open space on the roof and it recently became obvious that solar panel technology had reached a point where it would be economic for us to engage in that.”
Malcolm King, investment manager for Guinness Asset Management, said: “We’re pleased to be investing into one of the largest commercial rooftop solar installations in the UK that will be built by our long term EPC partner EvoEnergy and will enable industry leader Lyreco to realise their environmental ambitions.”
