Crystal Peaks Shopping Centre in Sheffield is home to the first European application of Trina Solar’s newly-launched flat-roof solar PV mounting system Trinamount III.
Sundog Energy was approached by specialist renewable energy consultants Syzygy Renewables on behalf of Hermes Real Estate Investment Management Limited (HREIML) to help fit the Crystal Peaks Shopping Centre with its own solar installation.
The proposed solar system would have to span four large roofs at Crystal Peaks, three of which are flat. For the flat roofs, Sundog Energy decided to use Trina Solar’s new Trinamount III system, which the company claims is capable of halving the intsllation time by significantly reducing the number of parts and eliminating the need for traditional mounting rails.
All in all, a total of 276 Trina 245Wp panels were mounted over three flat roofs using the new mounting system, with a further 129 Trina 250Wp panels mounted on the pitched roof using conventional fixings.
Sundog Energy predicts that the solar system will produce in excess of 80,000kWh per year – enough to power the entire communal areas of the shopping centre, with any surplus exported back to the National Grid.
Martin Cotterell, Founder and Technical Director of Sundog commented, “With a very tight installation window, we were really able to put the new mounting system through its paces at Crystal Peaks and appreciate the significant benefits it brings.
“The constantly changing market means that we are continually adopting innovative ways to reduce installation times and, therefore, costs for our customers and the installers. We believe that this new system brings real benefits and will be quickly taken up by installers around the UK.”
Ian Cody, Senior Asset Manager, Hermes Real Estate Investment Management Limited, said: “The installation of solar PV panels at Crystal Peaks is part of our on-going commitment to responsible investment across HREMIL’s portfolio, which has seen absolute carbon emission reductions of over 41 percent for our year on year standing portfolio since 2006. Further to this, HREIML has surpassed its 2020 target of a 40 percent reduction and generated energy savings of over £1.5 million in the last five years.
“We remain dedicated to investing in new sustainable technologies, such as the new installation techniques used by Trina Solar, which have a positive impact on returns and lower the risk of assets depreciating in value.”
Neil Sinclair, Director at Syzygy said: “We are pleased to have identified and delivered this prestigious contract on behalf of Hermes which forms a significant part of their on-going campaign to future-proof their property portfolio with clean, green, renewable energy solutions. We are equally delighted with Sundog’s performance. Their innovative use of the new Trinamount III has meant the installation time was considerably less, reducing the installed price and ultimately increasing the financial benefits for our client. It really was a win-win situation for everyone and we will certainly be looking to use Sundog and specify Trinamount III into several other projects we are looking at for other large commercial property owners.”