This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Norbar extends solar installation and further reduces carbon emissions
25/08/2022
The new panels are expected to save around 91 tonnes of CO2 fossil fuel emissions each year
One of the area’s largest employers has switched on their second bank of roof mounted solar panels. Norbar, on the Wildmere Road in Banbury, are seeking to improve the company’s environmentally friendly credentials whilst reducing their energy costs.
The new panels, together with the existing array, will generate around 25% of Norbar’s electricity requirements.
Its seven years since Norbar installed their first solar array, working with the social enterprise Low Carbon Hub. The second phase makes this the Low Carbon Hub’s second largest community-owned solar rooftop PV array.
This extension is expected to save around 91 tonnes of CO2 fossil fuel emissions annually and significantly lower Norbar’s energy bills, as more of the energy it requires will come from clean electricity generated on its own roof.
The original solar array was installed in 2015 with 1,000 panels. The extension adds a further 2,180 panels. Over the twenty-year lifetime of the project, it’s anticipated the panels will save 1,900 tonnes of CO2 from being emitted.
The Low Carbon Hub’s community provided the funding for the project with space on Norbar’s roof leased to them. The energy the panels produce is sold to Norbar at a discounted rate.
Extending the array at Norbar is a key part of Low Carbon Hub’s mission to ‘power up’ Oxfordshire with more community-owned renewables, generating clean electricity, cutting carbon emissions, and keeping more money in the local economy.
James Ochiltree, Business Development Manager for the Low Carbon Hub, developed the project. He said: “It’s fantastic to be working with the team at Norbar again, building on the original solar PV array completed in 2015. So far that array has produced 1,402,505.09 kw of clean electricity and saved around 420 tonnes of CO2 from being emitted into our atmosphere. We’re looking forward to seeing that number go up significantly with this increase in solar generation.”
Catherine Rohll, Legal Counsel, Norbar Torque Tools Ltd said: “It has always been our intention to add a second solar PV array to our roof at Norbar and I’m delighted to see it going live.
“In addition, we have switched our purchasing strategy for electricity to buy only from renewable sources and we have no gas. That means from later this year, everything we make in our Banbury factory will be produced using only renewable energy.”
John Reynertson, Norbar’s Managing Director, added: “Controlling your costs in a high inflation environment (as we are in now) is one little piece that helps keep us as a viable manufacturer here in Banbury.
“We’re considering adding in another section which would bring us up to a very impressive 1 Megawatt of energy being produced here on the roof.”
You can listen to our interviews here:
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam