Liberty Wines says it has reduced its electricity costs by £86,480 in 10 months following the installation of a rooftop solar system at its warehouse in Basingstoke.
The 521kWp installation was designed and installed by Insight Energy using SolarEdge technology and supplies power to both the warehouse and the company’s electric vehicle fleet.
According to the companies, the project overcame insurance-related challenges associated with installing solar panels on a facility storing large volumes of flammable products.
Liberty Wines had originally planned to install rooftop solar during the warehouse’s construction. However, the project was delayed after concerns were raised by the company’s insurer regarding the storage of alcohol on site.
Insight Energy subsequently designed a system based on SolarEdge’s DC-optimised architecture, incorporating safety technologies including arc-fault detection and voltage reduction capabilities intended to support maintenance access and emergency response requirements.
Kristian Day, Managing Director of Insight Energy, explains, “Insurance challenges are common when installing PV on warehouses, particularly those used to store flammable stock.
“Liberty Wines needed a solution that was safe, reliable, and efficient. SolarEdge technology enabled us to meet all three requirements while also giving the company full visibility and control over its energy use.”
Solar generation offsets majority of warehouse demand
The installation comprises 1,005 solar panels equipped with power optimisers and four 90kW inverters.
Since commissioning, the system has generated 376MWh of electricity and supplied approximately 63% of the warehouse’s energy requirements.
The solar array is managed through SolarEdge’s energy management platform, which coordinates power generation and consumption across the warehouse and EV charging infrastructure.
Liberty Wines is using the platform to schedule vehicle charging during periods of high solar generation, increasing onsite consumption of renewable electricity.
Kristian continues, “As a company committed to sustainable operations, Liberty Wines is taking a long-term, data-driven approach to optimising its energy management.
“The SolarEdge system’s monitoring platform shows exactly how much solar energy each panel generates and how much energy is actually being used.
“Liberty Wines is already using 63% of the solar energy produced on site, which is very high.”
The company is also assessing the potential addition of battery storage to capture excess solar generation currently exported to the grid.
Insight Energy used the SolarEdge Designer platform to model the installation and forecast its performance before deployment.
Kristian concludes, “Customers often think the performance forecasts we provide for SolarEdge systems are too good to be true.
“We use the SolarEdge Designer tool to design the solar system to meet our clients’ exact requirements, while its modelling capabilities enable us to clearly demonstrate how and why each system will perform as predicted. As an installer, it’s an invaluable tool in our toolkit.”
Liberty Wines supplies restaurants, hotels, bars, caterers, and retailers throughout the UK and Ireland. The company achieved carbon-neutral certification in 2014 and Carbon Neutral Plus status in 2017. It says carbon emissions associated with each £1 of wine sold have since fallen by 39%.
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