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Plumbers merchant chain Wolseley has invested in 8,000 solar panels for the roof of its National Distribution Centre (NDC) in Leamington Spa.
The panels are capable of generating enough electricity to power around 450 homes a year.
Wolseley UK’s latest initiative sees a roof area of 13,113sq m – roughly the size of two football pitches – covered in 8020 PV panels, along with 24 inverters.
The installation, carried out over a 6 month period, is set to produce 2 megawatts of electricity per year and could generate £6.5 million over 20 years under the government’s Feed In Tariff (FIT) for commercial buildings.
At full capacity output the system will completely power Wolseley UK’s National Distribution Centre as well as creating a 10% energy surplus.
The payback period of the installation is 6.8 years, which means the NDC will receive free energy after seven years. Wolseley UK will also achieve carbon savings of around 1280 tonnes per year.
Steve Ashmore, managing director, Wolseley UK said: “As a business, we are committed to sustainable building. We opened the UK’s first commercial showcase for sustainable building products and construction methods, our Sustainable Building Center, in 2008. And we are continuing to lead the way by investing in the technology that we advocate.
“We are already seeing some fantastic environmental and cost savings from our PV installation and I hope that our success will inspire our customers into adopting green energy solutions, due to the significant results they can achieve.”
