One of our recent, and largest, commercial PV installations was the 46kw system designed for Broadland Windows towards the end of 2023. Broadland Windows is an established installer of windows, doors and conservatories, established in 1974. This is a large factory unit with some built in office space, a showroom, and the workshop where windows and conservatories are built and assembled. With the high cost of electricity required to run the premises, and their desire to improve their green credentials, they decided to explore their options to install Solar PV with battery storage.
They have a very large S/E facing roof which is ideal for Solar Panels. We had a number of site meetings to discuss their needs and to undertake a roof inspection to ensure it could take the load of additional weight from the solar panels, following which, a number of system designs were compiled to be chosen from.
The final design that was decided upon and used for the eventual installation was comprised of 105 panels (depicted below) with a 40kW Solis inverter, a SolaX battery, bird proofing and an EV Charger.
In the end, the system took roughly two weeks to fully install and commission. We supplemented the PV system with a 17.4kWh battery system, which was decided on in order to capture excess energy, while still exporting some back to their supplier under the SEG (Smart Export Guarantee) scheme. This shows systems such as these to be financially beneficial, as not only do they allow for savings on bills, but also enable businesses and homes to make money back through these schemes.
This commercial system is estimated to have paid for itself within 3 years and 5 months as, when excluding the cost of their initial investment and utility bills, approximately £336k is predicted to have been saved over the lifetime of the system (based on rates at the time). On top of this, an annual saving of 11 tons of CO2, equating to 318,360 car km avoided, 2,047 trees planted, and 228 long haul flights avoided, can be expected.
What businesses need to know
The UK Government have set out a number of policies and proposals for decarbonising all sectors of the UK economy to meet their net zero target by 2050. This is why exploring the potential of green energy installations for your businesses is of such great importance, as it puts you one step ahead going forward. We believe strongly in this green initiative at Green Solar Footprint, and so we offer different funding options for jobs like these, making commercial systems even more viable to all businesses.
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