At CleanEarth, we don’t back down from a challenging site. And this ground mount for Rodda’s, renowned Cornish Clotted Cream powerhouse, was no exception.
Their story started in 1890, with Eliza Jane Rodda, and now they’re arguably the most beloved clotted cream brand in the world – even selling in Japan. It takes tenacity to build a legacy, and even more so to transform that legacy into something more sustainable. And to do this, they’d need the right sustainable solutions provider to match their determination.
Our team at CleanEarth put their expertise to the task and installed a 1,680-panel solar PV ground mount system to generate clean energy for The Creamery in Redruth. To execute this, we had to navigate a particularly challenging site that would have otherwise been deemed unusable. With four former mine shafts in the field and undulating land, it took precision to execute the designs as safely and effectively as possible. With the mine shafts fenced off, the solar farm follows the contours of the land based off our pre-commencement survey work and detailed mining survey.
To take this installation even further, we used bifacial – or dual-sided – panels to completely maximise all available light. Most solar photovoltaic panels are built with an opaque backing sheet affixed to the back of the panel – for bifacial panels this is translucent, making it possible for light to reflect off the back. Bifacial panels can then generate up to 10-20% more energy than monofacial panels and can perform better in low light conditions. In such a tight field, this ground mount is going to get additional radiance from the panels themselves that will support the generation of even more low-cost, low-carbon electricity.
Rodda’s are going to see an annual yield of almost a million kilowatts per hour a year – a truly significant amount of low-carbon electricity that will be saving the planet over two thousand tonnes of CO2 in the next decade alone. Across the systems lifetime, this number will climb to over five thousand. It will also be saving Rodda’s £114,000 pounds in energy costs in its first year, with cumulative savings of over £4,664,000.
Rodda’s have been making strides in their sustainability, using their incredible industry recognition to pave the way for renewable business practices. We’re proud to contribute to their efforts with this project and get our boots dirty for such good results.
Learn more about our other projects here.
