Renewable Advice, a green tech company that specialises in manufacturing wind turbine blades and composites has turned to another technology to help it reduce its carbon footprint – thin film solar photovoltaic panels.
Since Renewable Advice moved into their new offices last year, the company has worked tirelessly to implement as many renewable features as possible to help practice what the company preaches. After implementing energy saving lighting and rainwater harvesting, the company identified solar PV panels as a viable investment platform as well as the key to reducing the company’s carbon footprint even further.
Working in partnership with the Save Energy Group in Dorset the company decided to install a 50kWp solar array made entirely from CIS Thin Film solar PV modules. Explaining the decision, Benn Faulkner of Renewable Advice, said: “Following the move to our Winchester premises a year ago a main goal was to reduce our carbon impact. Through the assessment process, it became clear that the installation of solar PV would significantly reduce our carbon footprint from 42 tonnes per annum to just 17. I was already aware of CIS Thin Film as a technology, but only the toxic versions. The product that Save Energy brought to the table was on a whole new level compared to traditional thin film and is the only panel that is truly lead and cadmium free. It is a far superior panel in terms of the visual appeal, but for us it was the environmental aspect – and of course its improved performance – that made it the more attractive proposition. Clearly, the panel does not compromise looks over quality and our 50 kilowatt system will result in a return on investment you will find hard to better today.”
The Save Energy Group believes that the new CIS Thin Film will help provide businesses with much higher energy generation as well as offering greater flexibility in terms of roof location and shading. Wolf Dietrich, Commercial Sales Manager, explained: “This is the next generation of solar photovoltaic panel and, put simply, offers outstanding potential for investment and payback for businesses looking to reduce their overheads. This is the first product we have selected in terms of forming a distributorship, which after ten years in the industry tells the customer everything they need to know about how much we believe in the technology, the product and the infrastructure that supports it.”
Renewable Advice also elected to utilise Save Energy’s ‘Monitoring, Maintenance and Service Package’ – which aims to secure the array’s long term operation as well as investment. Faulkner added: “The package provides a ‘fit and forget’ service, enabling us to enjoy the savings of solar energy while concentrating our time on the business. With the Government tariff in place for financial remuneration on every kilowatt-hour we generate, whether we use it or not it was, to coin a phrase, a ‘no-brainer’ for our business and I would urge any business to consider doing the same.”
