A great example set by this company in Bridgewater, Somerset.
Yet across the nearly 6,000 warehouses currently in place in North and West Northamptonshire there’s not a solar panel in sight. Almost every one of those warehouses is flat-roofed, and most are between 300,000 and 550,000 square feet* in size. That’s enough for each one to house between 10,000 and 30,000 solar panels.*
Development has also recently started on a 722,000 sq ft logistics facility at SEGRO^ Logistics Park, Northampton (enough for about 34,000 solar panels*). Add to that all the shopping malls, car parks and other factories with flat roofs and you have more than enough space to not even think about ransacking greenfield land and viable farming acreage.
The cost implications are too great for the companies involved to add solar panels to existing structures. And, inevitably, until the Government makes solar panels mandatory on new builds, developers will continue to ignore this responsibility.
In the meantime, the best we can hope for is that more companies follow Refresco’s example and take the environmentally and morally responsible road…
* Depending on panel size and necessary maintenance and racking spacing.
^ This company has been contacted for comment about the use of solar panels on this new build.