Commercial solar installers AR Power, based in Washington, have recently completed a commercial solar installation for a well-known company in the North East.
SMD specialise in the design, manufacture and deployment of remotely operated and autonomous power and control solutions, helping their partners around the globe to harness the potential of the most challenging subsea environments with maximum safety, efficiency and sensitivity.
SMD contacted AR Power toward the end of 2023 to design a solar PV system for each of their 2 buildings based on the River Tyne at Oceana Business Park in Newcastle, providing a cost and payment options to install both systems.
They wanted to install solar to meet their ESG and sustainability objectives, reducing their carbon emissions and reliance on energy from the grid.
The in-house design team at AR Power designed a 252.56 kWp system, consisting of 616 panels across the 2 buildings. The bespoke solar PV system will generate 211,844 kWh of energy for SMD to use annually and will reduce their carbon footprint by almost 44 tonnes per year. All fire safety features recommended in the RC62 joint code of practice were also included in the design.
AR Power presented SMD with CapEx and Asset Finance payment options and they opted to pay for the commercial solar PV system over a number of years using Asset Finance. The solar company were able to model the payment options so SMD could use the money they were saving on energy bills to cover the cost of the monthly finance repayments, making this project almost cost neutral.
Once SMD were happy with the proposal and the contract was signed, the internal teams at AR Power began to process all applications to the DNO, request for a structural survey to be carried out, start to order equipment, and appoint a project manager to make arrangements for their in-house installations teams to begin the work.
Adam Black, the Project Manager at AR Power overseeing the delivery of the project said “This was a very interesting installation to be involved in. Due to the height of the building, a bespoke scaffolding system was designed and installed to ensure highest level of safety for our teams while maximising installation efficiency.
“Our Operations Team worked closely with the team at SMD to whilst managing the installation of safety netting internally to minimise any disruption to their daily operations, a necessary measure when working with roof lights to ensure all teams remained safe while working on the roof.
“Despite encountering high winds during the installation, our team, equipped with anemometers, closely monitored the conditions. Work was halted completely whenever the winds exceeded safe working speeds, demonstrating our commitment to safety and quality throughout the project.
“The dedication and proficiency of our installers were evident in every aspect of the project. Their ability to adapt to challenging circumstances and maintain the highest standards of workmanship was key to the successful completion of this installation.”
Kevin Swanson, Head of Production, Quality, Planning & Logistics at SMD said “We wanted to install solar to our buildings as part of our ESG and sustainability objectives. After obtaining a number of quotes for the commercial solar PV system, we chose to use AR Power due to cost and their reputation of being ‘best in class’.
“AR Power is clearly a very professional outfit, Adam was on hand to answers questions and communicate throughout and would recommend to anyone looking for industrial scale solar installations.”
Mark Dunville, Technical Director at AR Power said “It’s great to support another well-known North East company with their ESG and sustainability initiatives. To be trusted by large and reputable companies such as SMD to deliver their solar PV project means a lot to everyone at AR Power and is a testament to the effort and attention to detail that goes into all of our projects from start to finish.”
If you would like to discuss installing solar for your business or organisation, please get in touch with the team at AR Power today. They are more than happy to have an exploratory conversation with you and to answer any questions you have before providing you with a detailed proposal.