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The power of self-generating energy
Substantial strides are needed when it comes to sustainability – a notable part of the puzzle is reducing the level of greenhouse gas emissions we pump out.
The food system is responsible for about a third of global emissions, but it’s also highly susceptible to the shocks that climate change brings – floods, droughts, intense heats and strong winds for example.
As such, many food and drink manufacturers have made ambitious commitments to reach carbon neutrality.
In our next webinar (24 July, 10:30am BST, sign up here) we’ll be holding a roundtable of experts to talk about not just the benefits of renewable energy but why ‘generating it yourself’ is a great option for resilience and efficiency. This session will be particularly useful for those looking to power up their sustainable energy journey.
Alongside weighing up the advantages of self-generating energy, the conversation will also explore the various options manufacturers have when it comes to technology and some important considerations to make before you embark on your journey.
Meet the panel
Among the brands making sustainable advances is Heck Foods, which has invested £150k into solar energy at its headquarters in Kirklington.
To tell us more about this work, we’ll be joined by James Ashford, the company’s head of procurement, who has been with the company since 2020.
While his primary role involves managing material supply contracts and supply chain inbound, he is also actively involved in the business’s sustainability strategy.
“As the buyer there is a natural crossover with Heck’s sustainability journey,” he told Food Manufacture.
Ashford has in his own words, had a “long-held interest in net zero” and his responsibilities in sustainability are the part of his role he “enjoys the most”.
Earlier this year, he led the company’s project to deliver a 235kwh solar PV system, which will save an estimated 45 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Joining Ashford on the panel is Hilton Food’s Tom Maidment, the group product sustainability senior manager.
Maidment joined Hilton in 2021 from Jaguar Land Rover, where he spent five years developing the car manufacturer’s first electric vehicle in various roles, before moving into the product sustainability team where he led on lifecycle assessment (LCA) and developed the company’s net zero strategy.
His past experience has also included running E.Mission – a company which worked to improve the public understanding of the carbon footprint of food.
In this role at Hilton, Maidment leads the development of the company’s decarbonisation strategy, supports sustainability innovation projects and provides LCA expertise across the company and beyond.
The company has rolled out a number of reduction and improvement plans across its sites, including solar panels and heat recovery solutions. Moreover, by 2048 it intends to be net negative.
In addition to his current role at Hilton, Maidment is the UK Youth Delegate for Climate Change, Energy Transition and Sustainable Development to the G20 and an Associate at Oxford Net Zero. He also holds MEng in Automotive Engineering & Sustainability from the University of Warwick and is a Chartered Engineer.
Richard Wood is both Noble Foods Poultry’s managing director and lead for Noble Green Energy. He will also join the panel discussion, bringing with his more than 30 years of experience across food, hospitality, FMCG, manufacturing, airline, consumer and retail industries covering both commercial and operational roles.
The family-owned company, which owns the happy egg co, Purely Organic and produces around 60 million eggs per year, has vastly expanded its solar power generation at its flagship egg packing centre in Lincolnshire.
The new 370KWp system takes total site capacity to 520kWp, which will significantly offset the site’s reliance on the National Grid. On sunnier days, there will be moments when the entire load will be covered by the self-generated clean energy, including powering a bank of electric car chargers for staff.
The new installation includes a monitoring platform, which captures all generation and site electricity usage, to further help highlight areas for efficiencies to be achieved through operational shifts.
Sponsoring the session and also joining to lend its invaluable expertise in this area is E.ON Energy, represented by director of B2B sales, James Cottrill.
“Energy sits at the core of modern-day society, it powers our industries and homes and fuels our cars and transportation. The old ways of energy production are being phased out and new innovative solutions are taking their place,” he told Food Manufacture.
Over the past 15 years, Cottrill has been involved with the latter and has enjoyed a successful career in the energy sector helping to secure the energy future.
His experience as a business development manager experience within the distributed energy sector spans an impressive 15 years. His strengths lie in developing and selling bespoke distributed energy schemes to blue chip clients and managing the full opportunity lifecycle, from generating leads to contract signature and post-sale handover.
E.ON has a strong legacy of achievements when it comes to the UK’s energy transition, including the construction of its first onshore wind farm more than 30 years ago. Overall, the company has invested a notable £3.3bn into UK renewables.
To top the panel off, we’ll be joined by Frank Gordon, the director of policy at the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA).
REA is the voice of the renewable energy and clean technology industries in the UK. Established in 2001 as a non-profit, it represents the full range of renewable technologies across all applications.
Its 500 members include sole traders, farmers, installers, energy suppliers, consultancy firms, training bodies, legal services and major multinationals. It works with the UK Government on policy and trade to accelerate the development of renewable energy, domestically and internationally.
Gordon has a background in energy and climate change policy in UK central government and the non-governmental sector. He also holds a Master’s degree in climate change, coordinated the All Party Parliamentary Group on Climate Change, and has co-authored a number of reports on renewable energy and storage.
If you’re keen to join the webinar, ‘Unleashing the power of self-generated energy’, you can register for free here. This session is ideal for anyone looking for solid insight and honest views and experiences in self-generation.
