Sustainable building solutions provider Holcim UK has installed a new solar array on the roof of one of its largest sites in an effort to decarbonise its operations.
A total of 464 solar panels have been installed on the roof of Holcim UK’s Callow plant, located near Cheddar in the south west of England, which hosts a hard rock aggregate quarry, ready-mix concrete plant, and a building projects block factory.
The development was managed by Rengerco and installed by Aniron, and is capable of generating over 167,000kWh of power per year, which will meet approximately eight per cent of the site’s annual power needs. Solar Power Portal reached out to ask for the total installed capacity, but had not received a response as of the publication of this story.
The company has set a target of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. This latest rooftop installation follows previous solar installations at Holcim UK’s Huland Ward and Bardon Hill sites in the past year.
Luke Olly, head of decarbonisation at Holcim UK, said that the company has several other decarbonisation schemes planned for 2025, adding: “Renewable energy is one of the key components of our net-zero strategy, and the more schemes we introduce, the more clean energy we can produce, lowering carbon emissions and making our sites more self-sufficient.”
Commercial and industrial operations look to rooftop solar
Holcim UK’s solar efforts follow a broader industry trend that has seen a number of major manufacturing, commercial, and industrial firms install rooftop solar arrays.
Last month, AMPYR Distributed Energy announced the successful completion of a 224kW rooftop solar array for the Lancashire headquarters of exotic mushrooms producer Smithy Mushrooms, something which Smithy Mushrooms director John Dorian called “an absolute game changer”.
Meanwhile, health and wellness club operator the Bannatyne Group has installed solar panels on the rooftops of eight of its health clubs, hotels and spas, following a partnership with Shawton Energy. According to the Bannatyne Group, the installations have already provided significant energy savings to the group, with each site securing energy savings of as much as 25% since the installations were completed last month.
The project was funded through a bespoke power purchase agreement (PPA) with Shawton Energy. The Bannatyne Group made no upfront investment in the installations, which were instead funded by Shawton Energy, and will purchase the energy from the installations at a fixed, low-cost price.
