A major refurbishment of the headquarters of the Ocean Housing Group in St Austell means that the building now showcases a state-of-the-art photovoltaic installation featuring an integrated Kingspan Roof PowerPanel system. The initial phase of the project, which was completed in October 2010, involved replacing the old asbestos roof with over 1200m2 of Kingspan KS1000 RW insulated panels.
Kingspan’s PV team of engineers were involved throughout the project, from assessing the structural capability of the existing building, to optimising the system design and successfully project managing the complete installation of the PV system. In total 273 Sharp 210W polycrystalline PV modules with a 57.33kW peak capacity were installed to the south facing elevations of the roof.
Matthew Goddard, Commercial Manager for main contractors MITIE Tilley Roofing said, “The programme went really well, and we were very impressed with Kingspan who pulled out all the stops to make sure that the project was delivered on time.”
“We are in a win-win situation,” explained David Renwick, Chief Executive of the Ocean Group. “All the ‘green’ electricity we generate on site is free for us to use. On top of this we are rewarded for every kilowatt hour of energy we produce, with an additional bonus for the electricity we sell on.”
“The figures really stack up, especially as all the electricity we produce when our offices are closed during the weekend and summer evenings, is sold back to the grid, making us more money,” continued David. “And what makes this project really exciting, is that we can now assess the technology for future use in a significant proportion of our homes, with the aim of making fuel poverty a thing of the past for our residents.”
It is estimated that the electricity produced will save over £20,000 annually.
