Solar Solutions for Multi-Site Retail Businesses

Working directly with Duncan Bannatyne and his senior leadership team directly, we identified 38 sites in their portfolio that would be suited to a solar solution. Their main priority was to reduce spend due to their high energy demand in their sites with heated pools, but they also recognised their customer base was increasingly looking for providers who take their carbon footprint seriously. By working across their owned property portfolio, one of their main property agents and a further 12 individual landlords, we put together a Solar Solution that was fully funded by Shawton Energy. The roll-out commenced in early 2024 and is due to be completed in Autumn 24. With more than 4MWp of solar installed it is expected to save them more than 950 tonnes of carbon in the first year and more than £700k of energy savings in the first year with a potential to save them over £20m in energy savings across the 25-year contract term.

Huws Gray approached us in 2023 to look at a regional part of their property portfolio to see if it was suitable for solar based on their energy demand profile. We put together a proposal that covered 41 of their owned retail locations through a fully funded PPA solution. By working with their senior leadership team, this was signed off in early 2024 and the roll-out is expected to be completed by summer 2024. We are now working across 3 further regions and a further 140 identified sites, which include owned properties as well as leased properties. This is expected to be signed off by Autumn 2024. The initial roll-out across the 41 sites totals 3.1MWp of solar which will save them more than 700 tonnes of carbon annually and year one savings of more than £500k. Their key objective are to reduce their energy spend for the long term, and that is starting to be delivered.

Initially working with one franchise owner who had 12 retail sites we have now delivered a number of small solar projects to help reduce their energy and reduce carbon and increase their ‘green’ credentials to their customers.

Through a successful roll-out we are now working with a further 8 Franchise owners to deliver solar solutions across their portfolio and by the end of 2024 we expect to have installed more than 2MWp of projects across 28 locations.

This is expected to reduce their carbon by almost 400 tonnes and also provide the brand with, £300k of energy savings in their first year.

Based on a forecast of energy prices the return of investment for the self-funding of these projects is expected to be 4.8 years and with the solution having a life of 30 plus years, Starbucks will experience substantial savings across just a small part of their estate.

We envisage engaging with more franchisees throughout 2025.

We have now installed a number of CBRE funded projects across their managed estate. Totalling more than 1.8MWp across 12 sites, this has lead to CBRE now placing us on their framework due to the work we have completed. They have identified a further 200 sites that could support solar, and we are working with them in 2024 to further analyse and refine those sites, with a significant role out expected in 2025.

3 of the sites brought to us from CBRE are DHL Distribution sites. Through analysis of the energy demand, grid connection capability as well as roof size, we developed and delivered 900kWp across those sites to help reduce their energy demand and cost and also reduce their carbon usage to help with their newly published sustainability plan. We worked closely with both CBRE and the site teams at DHL and due to the success we expect further sites to follow in 2024/25.

We have now worked alongside various BMW dealerships in the north-west of England to deliver solar roll-outs at their new showrooms.

With the large push for electric cars under the brand, BMW are keen to be seen as a sustainable and green business, and therefore solar was a key way to demonstrate that. Although energy savings were useful, their main driver was to reduce their carbon footprint and claim to their customers that when charging at their site they were enjoying renewable energy.

Through our fully-funded solution, 8 dealerships are now enjoying renewable energy with no upfront investment and across the property portfolio have more than 1MWp of solar, saving them more 200 tonnes of carbon annually and expect to save more than £200k in year one.

We are currently working with a further 8 dealerships in the area across other brands to deliver solar.

We were invited to put a submission into Co-Op’s national solar tender in 2023 alongside 14 other solar providers. In late 2023, Shawton Energy were informed that we, alongside one other provider, were selected to support, fund and deliver a solar roll-out across their portfolio of 2,800 sites.

Throughout 2024 we have worked closely with Co-Op to analyse their sites to identify the first trance of roll-out sites due to begin in 2025 based on a schedule provided by one of the largest food retailers in the UK.

Totalling more than 12MWp of solar across 120 sites, both selected providers will work with Co-Op to further prioritise which sites are to be delivered in the first half of 2025. The majority of the sites are Co-Op owned, but some larger sites that are leased have been brought into the initial roll-out due to the significant cost savings available.