8:32 pm, November 27, 2011
JCT600 is investing £400k in solar photovoltaic systems at its showrooms in Sheffield, Bradford and Lincoln.
Following a six month assessment process, these dealerships were identified as the most suitable for solar PV panels due to the construction and orientation of the buildings.
A total of 600 solar panels will be installed at JCT600 Mercedes-Benz in Sheffield, JCT600 Peugeot in Bradford and JCT600 Audi in Lincoln by December 8.
The project is being managed by Rex Procter & Partners (RPP) in Bradford with GMI Renewable Energy Group in Leeds appointed to supply and install the solar PV system.
It is estimated that the solar panels will generate 120,000 kw hours per annum, with a combined income through government incentives (feed in tariffs) and electricity savings averaging around £60k per year as electricity increases in cost.
‘We have been working on this project over the last year as it forms part of a wider company initiative looking at improving our energy usage and efficiency across all of our dealerships,’ explained Mark Taylor, group property director at JCT600. ”
‘This initiative has focused on finding innovative ways of reducing our carbon footprint as well as saving money and the PV scheme will play an important part in this.
‘With the recent announcement of the cutting back of feed in tariffs, installing the solar PV system quickly has become a priority so that we are able to maximize the pay back of the investment cost within the shortest period of time, making it a commercially attractive and viable project.
‘We will be reviewing the success of the system at the initial three dealerships and it may well be rolled out to some of our other sites in the future.’
The renewable energy system will generate around one gigawatt of electricity at each dealership over the 25-year feed- in-tariff period, saving around 1.5 thousand tonnes of Co2 emissions.
A total income of £1.4m will be generated from the feed in tariff as well as saving around £300k in electricity purchase costs, based on current energy prices.
