Yearsley invests £2.2M in solar cold stores
Cold store roofs at both the Heywood cold store in Greater Manchester and Holmewood near Chesterfield in Derbyshire, have been fitted with a total of 5,000m2 of photovoltaic panels by Bury-based Solar Choice, a specialist in the field.
Each system produces 310,000kWh of electricity a year, saving upwards of 170t carbon dioxide per warehouse. They will provide each of the cold stores with up to 10% of their annual electricity requirements.
The investment is part of Yearsley's strategy to increase the energy it obtains from renewable sources and is a forerunner to renewable installations planned for other UK depots.
The Lancashire-based frozen food specialist has more than 1,200 employees, an annual turnover in excess of £130M and operates two separate divisions: storage and distribution; and food sales.
The company has 12 depots across the UK , which have a 280,000-pallet storage capacity and service both food manufacturers and retailers.
Yearsley Group md Harry Yearsley said: "Sustainability is high on our agenda and the reduction of carbon emissions is key in terms of our warehouse operation and in regards to transportation.
"We have already implemented new management systems for reducing waste road miles and updated many of the cold stores with state-of-the-art insulation, but we knew we could do more. That is why we began to investigate renewables."
