Cold food distributor harnesses power from the sun

The UK’s largest cold food storage and distribution provider, the Yearsley Group, is saving around 340 tonnes of harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) a year utilising energy generated from a solar photovoltaic (PV) installation designed by Waxman Energy.

The installation will enable the Yearsley Group to generate 10% of its annual electricity needs as well as minimising its impact on the environment.

Waxman Energy, one of the UK’s leading specialists in the design and distribution of photovoltaics, designed and supplied the whole system for the project. The £2.2m installation saw a total of 5,000 sq metres of solar PV panels, capable of producing 310,000 kilowatt hours per annum, installed across two sites at Heywood, Greater Manchester and Holmewood, near Chesterfield.

The project utilised over eight and a half miles of DC cable and saw 3,160 Phono Solar PS240M modules fitted to the southern elevations of both buildings’ roofs using the Fix 2-7 Schletter mounting system. Each building also had 20 SMA STP-17000 inverters installed to convert the energy.

Bury-based Solar Choice carried out the installation on behalf of the Yearsley Group. During the design and consultation stage, the technical team from Waxman Energy assessed the roof type of the buildings, including directions and elevations and designed optimum systems to best capitalise on both buildings’ properties and harness as much power from the sun as possible.

Solar Choice Sales Director Ajay Hargreaves said: “Yearsley Group has made a major investment and cleverly made use of its existing assets to create green energy to help power its own operations and help it to meet the environmental policies of many of its customers.

“These are by far the largest roof mounted installations we have ever done and one of the biggest in the UK, producing an enormous amount of electricity in a clean and sustainable way and significantly reducing the company’s reliance on the National Grid.

“We received excellent service from Waxman, from initial consultation through to the delivery of the system. We also benefitted from the company’s clear and pragmatic technical support which was of great assistance throughout the project.”

Waxman Energy Ltd is part of the Waxman Group of Companies based in Elland, West Yorkshire and has over 50 years’ experience in the distribution industry. It is the main UK distributor for some of the world’s leading solar manufacturers, including Phono Solar, LG, Sanyo and SMA.