UK commercial renewable energy services provider CES has completed a 475 kW solar PV system on the roof of a Ford & Slater DAF Trucks UK dealership in Leicester.
CES worked as a subcontractor with contractor Ample Power, a long-term partner of CES, to install SunPower P7 modules and SMA 125kW inverters.
As a result of the activities at the DAF dealer, which includes testing and welding truck brakes, the site has what CES director Joe Collison described as an “incredibly high energy demand”. The obstructed roof at the site, which also has skylights, posed an obstacle to the installation.
The solar power generation will also power a 180 kW DC charger at the site, where the company also plans to install more charging capacity.
Collison added that these things “could” have affected the dimensions of the array, but CES and Ample worked together in the design phase to adjust the planned locations for those windows and “where possible” Ample Power rerouted external pipes and vents.
The company has previously supplied solar energy solutions for Dutch truck manufacturing company DAF, installing a 121 kWp solar PV array at a dealer in Bridgewater, Somerset. As a result of that project, DAF established new specifications for its dealers to integrate sustainable energy into its commercial transportation facilities.
DAF dealers are run as franchises, the Leicester dealer franchised by Ford & Slater, and in Bridgewater by Adams Morey.
Collison noted that the PV is “part of a broader plan,” with the Ford & Slater site having already commissioned CES to design and build an energy storage system (ESS) to store excess energy from the roof array.
Other vehicle manufacturers have turned to solar energy as a cost-effective energy source or to decarbonize their operations. About 10% of the annual energy demand at Ford’s largest research and development (R&D) campus in the UK, the Dunton Campus, is met by a Solar power plant of 5.2 MW. After the Daventry location, Dunton is Ford’s second British location to integrate solar panels.
Jaguar Land Rover also uses a combination of roof and ground-mounted panels, as well as solar carports, to power processes and charge electric cars. Three The planned facilities are expected to be operational by the end of 2026with plans already approved for an 18.2MW ground-mounted solar array at the company’s headquarters in Gaydon.
Running operations in an environmentally friendly manner may be a particular concern for car manufacturers doing business in Britain, as the government Incentive for electric car subsidies for buyers only applies to vehicles made by manufacturers that use sustainable processes.
