Norfolk Waste Recovery Plant Gets Solar Panels
5 October 2011
Norse Commercial Services-run waste recovery plant is making energy history in Norfolk with major solar panels installation
Solar panels attached to the Norfolk-based waste recovery plant
A £300,000 investment by Norse Commercial Services investment has seen a 100KW photovoltaic system of around 700 square metres installed on the roof of it's waste processing facility in Norfolk.
Over the 25-year life of the installation, by far the biggest of its kind in the county, Norse expects to save at least £116,000 in electricity costs, and generate more than £623,000 income from feed-in tariffs, where energy suppliers must make regular payments to organisations generating electricity from renewable sources.
Paul Cockaday, strategic carbon manager, explained: "The site uses a lot of electricity and it was a good fit in that it brings together waste recovery and renewable energy. Plus it has a very large roof space that faces due south."
"We were able to provide most of the technical services in house," he added, "and we were also able to draw on the wider Norse group, tapping into structural and mechanical engineering expertise. The panels would never offset all the electricity the materials recycling facility needs - they'll probably provide about 8 percent and we will sell some energy back to the grid, perhaps early in the morning, late in the evenings, or at weekends."
Cockaday says it is difficult to say exactly how much Norse will save, because electricity prices look set to continue to go up, and the feed-in tariffs are also linked to the Retail Price Index, but he expects the installation to have paid for itself in 14 years - maybe sooner when RPI is taken into account.
"We have effectively future-proofed this part of the business in energy terms," he comments. "Norse is supporting Norfolk County Council on their carbon reduction plans, and £0.5m has been set aside for photovoltaic systems on about 10 schools and some fire stations and libraries."
Darrel Moore
