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.

As a manufacturing company, Alderman Tooling is environmentally conscious and had started their journey to net zero carbon emissions as far back as 2014, when the company installed their initial 60kWp solar PV system. Since then the company has incorporated a number of sustainability initiatives, including switching to a green energy tariff, investing in a company e-bike on free loan to staff, switching to LED lighting and installing EV charge points. These quick wins helped the company to halve their scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions in less than two years. The new solar PV system installed on the factory roof is the companies’ latest initiative aimed at making Alderman Tooling a net zero energy user, whilst protecting the business from future increases in energy costs.

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.

The new 263.22kWp solar PV system is estimated to generate 260,356kWh of clean energy each year; reducing their carbon footprint by 54,653kg per annum. 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. Positive early data indicates the solar panels are generating in line with the financial projections and likely to pay for themselves within three to four years.

“Price was a key factor but not the only one. We were looking for experience and a strong reputation – we wanted to know the contractor was going to be around for a long time. By the time we were looking at three quotes it included research on the company’s values, friendliness, customer service, response to queries and attitude to health and safety – they were all crucial to us and Solarsense came out on top.”

Karen Friendship, Managing Director – Alderman Tooling