One year on since the installation of 8,000 solar panels on the roof of Wolseley UK’s National Distribution Centre (NDC) in Leamington Spa, the leading heating and plumbing merchant has generated enough renewable electricity to make more than 100 million cups of tea, exceeding its renewable energy target in the process.
The NDC PV installation produced 1,724,560kW in its first year, equivalent to the electricity used by 522 homes in the UK during the same period*. This is 16 per cent – or 72 homes worth of energy – more than expected, enabling the NDC to reduce its demand from the grid by a significant 27 per cent.
John Page, Site Facilities Manager, Wolseley UK said: “Since its installation in Spring last year, the solar array has exceeded all of our expectations and demonstrates that adopting new technologies in renewable energy can pay dividends, both in terms of cost savings and environmental benefits.
“We have been able to reduce our energy consumption from the grid by more than a quarter, which is an achievement by anyone’s standards and we are excited to see how this continues to develop in the coming months and years.”
The installation was carried out as part of Wolseley UK’s commitment to green energy solutions and a roof area of 13,113m² - roughly the size of two football pitches - was covered in 8000 PV panels, along with 24 inverters. The long-term forecast of the installation predicts that it could generate £6.5 million over 20 years under the government’s Feed In Tariff (FIT) for commercial buildings, based on production of 2 megawatt hours of electricity.
Wolseley UK will also achieve carbon savings of around 1280 tonnes per year, helping to improve the Leamington Spa site’s environmental performance, which is already rated by BREEAM as “very good” for the NDC.