Travis Perkins has had solar panels installed by renewables firm Solarlec to power its new regional distribution centre near Warrington, Cheshire. 

The Travis Perkins Group chose Solarlec - which has offices in Burnley, Carlisle and Exeter with installers and energy advisors nationwide - to complete the installation after the company fitted solar panels onto one of its Wickes stores in Sutton last year.

Solarlec designed and installed a 157.5kW solar PV system on the new purpose-built distribution centre, which serves all 16 of the Travis Perkins Group's companies and a total of 1900 UK sites, using Solfex Enhance solar panels. The solar panels are expected to save the Travis Perkins Group £9,862.30 on energy bills over the next 12 months alone, securing £11,823 in feed-in tariff subsidies over the course of their first year. Long term,over the next 25 years, the system's combined benefit is predicted to be around £907,161.21.

'It's my job to look at ways the group can reduce its energy consumption and carbon emissions,' said Haydn Young, group energy manager for Travis Perkins. 'As a group we pay large carbon levies so the choice of solar will reduce our total energy costs and therefore reduce our carbon emissions.' 

The solar panel system at the centre is set to save 1.5 million kg of carbon dioxide over the next 25 years.