A renewable energy installer has helped a North Devon company improve its environmental credentials by fitting commercial solar PV arrays at its two offices.
Reed Chillcheater designs and manufactures ‘super thermal’ wetsuits and wanted to not only reduce its carbon footprint and secure its future energy needs but to lower its electricity costs and generate income from the Feed-in Tariff. For help, it turned to South Molton company Source Renewable to design two bespoke arrays. The result is an 8.4 kWp system at its factory in Barnstaple and a 9.6 kWp system at its headquarters in Braunton.
“It’s always been important for me to move my business forward in a positive way,” said Chris Reed, Chillcheater’s managing director, “and the solar PV arrays are proof that it is possible to protect the environment while investing in the future of your business. They are already proving to be an excellent asset, generating renewable electricity, reducing my energy bills, and dramatically reducing Chillcheater’s carbon emissions.”
One of the most important aspects of the systems are the EnaSolar inverters, which include wireless technology to instantly connect to Reed’s PC. This allows him to instantly monitor the up-to-the-minute performance of both of his systems using a statistics package. It also means that he can immediately see if there are any issues with the system that need attention by the installer.
“I’ve been able to closely monitor the electricity we’ve generated,” added Reed, “and even with the poor weather we’ve experienced this summer our systems have exceeded what we expected.”
And the customer was so impressed Source Renewable’s work that he commissioned it to fit a domestic system on his house.
