Here Comes the Sun……

The summer may be long gone but the team at Gade Valley are still making the most of the sunshine.
In the last few months, the site has installed solar panels and Solatainer® as a recent step towards lowering our environmental impact.  By using the world’s natural resources, our vision was to reduce our carbon emissions and footprint alongside electricity and fuel costs.

Since September, the solar panels have been directly powering the site. Already the numbers are in and looking very impressive. According to the electricity bills our usage in June, was 692 kWh compared to only 174 kWh in September after installation. Based on this the solar panels were generating approximately ¾ of the site’s electricity in September. With these great results in just the first month these panels will certainly repay Osborne and the environment in the many years to come.

The site team are hoping for another success story with the Solatainer®. Made from a once 20ft shipping container mounted with PV array, the 20kW Solatainer®  system provides an off-grid power supply and storage from renewable-power. Powering the hoist to move equipment and material from the ground level up, this sustainably created solution replaces the 100kv diesel generator, which consumes 12 litres (or £6) per hour at half load, and is helping to reduce the site’s fuel consumption.

With the Solatainer’s® power generation well in excess of usage, the site team are now determining more ways to use the power and looking forward to collating the promising information at the end of the month.

The successes here reinforce the vision and work of Osborne’s environmental steering group, and sparks consideration for installing similar equipment at other work sites.

“We have a moral obligation to reduce our impact on the environment, and some of the initiatives implemented at Gade are helping to address the balance.” Martin Parsons, Gade Valley Project Manager, Osborne.