Roper Rhodes Group becomes self sufficient on green energy in 2022

Further to a successful structural survey and planning permission being granted, work on the installation will begin later this year. Once the panels are operational the entire business will become self-sufficient on clean energy and assist in meeting the UK’s need to treble its solar energy output by 2030 to keep pace with net-zero targets.

Will Steele, Operations Director remarked “at first glance the UK may not appear to be the most obvious choice for solar panels, however the system we will employ will generate 600 KwH during daylight hours, providing not only enough for our own consumption but with spare to give back to the National Grid”.

This is the largest project of this kind the company has embarked upon, however Roper Rhodes has for some time realised the importance of sustainability; undertaking many initiatives in the last few years to improve the company’s environmental impact. For example, solar panels are not a new thing for the business as the Brassmill office had them installed as early as Summer 2018. These current panels already provide a significant contribution to powering the entire building where 70+ people work every day.

Away from the office, following a successful trial the company car fleet of 30+vehicles for the national sales team has now been transitioned to Teslas. This has also meant the roll out of multiple charging points at both sites to enable all employees to plug in whilst they are at work. The company has also run an innovative trial by adding a fully electric vehicle to its delivery fleet. The vehicle, a 3.5t long wheelbase van has been performing deliveries to customers in the Bath and Bristol area and will lead to permanent additions of electric delivery vehicles to the fleet later in 2022. Furthermore, a task force was established a year ago to help reduce wasteful packaging across all categories which has resulted in a reduction of 79% in the use of cardboard and a 20% reduction in plastic.

Leigh Leather, Managing Director commented: “I am really pleased our new parent company, Svedbergs shares our commitment to protecting the environment and has agreed to invest in such an ambitious project, the implementation of the solar panels at Portbury mark a fundamental change to the way we will be efficiently managing our energy for many years to come”.

“This investment is part of Svedbergs Group's sustainability work where we purposefully reduce our climate footprint. During our 100-year history, we have always focused on managing resources and reducing our environmental impact,” says Per-Arne Andersson, CEO, Svedbergs Group.

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