Hitting all targets
A carbon footprint saving equivalent to 1.104 million car miles has been achieved by the new Driscolls head office, packhouse and cold store facility in Kent in its first year.
“We predicted that the 993.85 kW array would generate 949,384 kW hours of solar energy in a year and it has come within 2% of that figure –and that’s despite ten days in August when the system was switched off while site-wide electrical testing was carried out,” he said.
“The system also includes control hardware designed to ensure the output doesn’t overload the local grid, and that kicked in four times in May, so the true figure is likely to have been in excess of the prediction.”
The power generated by the system, one of the largest of its kind in the UK, supplied 27.37% of Driscolls’ total energy needs over the year, while 9% of the solar electricity went into the grid to be used by local homes and businesses.
“The solar PV system reduced Driscolls’ carbon footprint by 215,338 kg, the equivalent of the amount of carbon dioxide that would be locked up by 10,906 trees over ten years,” said Darren.
