Case study – retail roof top solar
Cox Motor Group Morecambe
Cox Motor Group is a multi-site motor vehicle dealer group located in the North West of England offering car brands such as Honda, Seat, MG, Volkswagen and Motability. Their sites include showrooms, offices, workshops and ancillary tenanted space. Solvo Energy were contracted to provide solar panel installation, electrical installation and commissioning services to 3 buildings at their Morecambe site.
542 kW
System Size
1,320
Number of Panels
£73,549
Estimated Annual Electricity Bill Savings
477,833 kWh
Annual Electricity Generation
The Solvo solar PV system will reduce the Cox Motor Group electricity bill by approximately £73,549 per annum and will pay for itself in just 6.52 years. The solar system offer will offer savings of £2,316,793 over the systems 35-year life.
Aerial photograph of the workshop building installation taken by the Solvo Energy drone.
System FunctionalityThe installed system will function under three primary operational scenarios:
Generating Excess Solar
During summer daytime hours the system may produce more energy than required on site, and so excess energy is sold to the grid.
Partially Offset Usage
During winter daytime hours the system may not produce enough energy required to fully power the site. In this case excess energy is purchased from the grid to supply the deficit.
Overnight
As solar PV does not generate electricity outside of daylight hours, no power is generated, and all electricity must be drawn from the grid.
Solar PV generates on site green electricity which offers significant electricity bill savings and reduces carbon consumption thereby providing a contribution towards the UK’s journey to Net Zero. Future installation of a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) will allow for utilisation of the system overnight and increase annual savings.
Generating Excess Solar
During summer daytime hours the system may produce more energy than required on site, and so excess energy is sold to the grid.
Partially Offset Usage
During winter daytime hours the system may not produce enough energy required to fully power the site. In this case excess energy is purchased from the grid to supply the deficit.
Overnight
As solar PV does not generate electricity outside of daylight hours, no power is generated, and all electricity must be drawn from the grid.
Environmental Benefits
Solar PV produces no CO2 emissions when generating electricity, creating a completely clean source of green energy. Environmental benefits provided by this system over its 35-year life cycle include:
2,905
Estimated tonnes avoided CO2
13,498,016
Car miles avoided
90,055
Trees planted
3,486
Long haul flights avoided