Alderman Tooling Solar PV System

Alderman Tooling is one of the UK’s leading metalwork manufacturers with more than 50 years’ experience in metal fabrication. Operating from their purpose built factory in Plymouth, the company provides metal fabrication services for clients in a wide range of sectors including automotive, retail, transport and furniture.

As metalwork engineers, Alderman Tooling own and operate a vast suite of energy intensive machinery, accounting for a significant proportion of their operating costs. A fluctuating energy market which resulted in a large spike in electricity prices (10p/unit to 30p/unit) caused huge concern and led the company to explore ways to secure their future energy supply and reduce their reliance on the National Grid.

After conducting a thorough energy audit and concluding that solar PV would deliver the highest carbon reductions for the costs involved, Alderman Tooling approached Solarsense to design, install and maintain an additional solar PV system for their factory in Plymouth.

Following a detailed technical review, site survey and feasibility study, the design engineers at Solarsense specified 410W solar PV modules due to their high efficiency and power output. This allowed Alderman Tooling to maximise their on-site energy generation from the available roof space and significantly reduce their reliance on buying electricity from the National Grid. By opting for SolarEdge optimisers and online monitoring, Alderman Tooling can measure the performance of their solar PV system. The analysis of this data led the company to change their shift patterns from late nights to weekends, in order to maximise the energy they generate and further increase their savings.

As well as significantly improving the sustainability credentials of the factory, the large-scale solar PV system installed for Alderman Tooling is estimated to generate a net profit of more than £3.2million for the company over the next 25-years.