GREEN CREDENTIALS
We understand how manufacturing production can impact on the earth, our community and clients, especially on our own social responsibility and within our supply chain. Therefore, we are extremely proud of our green credentials which enable us to fulfil our power requirements on Gosfield Airfield from renewable energy sources.
Every aspect of our renewable chain is totally under our control, from planting the seed of the plant that feeds our Anaerobic Digester, to the electricity that the welder and fitter use in our production facilities on site.
In addition to our large Solar Farm and Anaerobic Digestion plant, we have adopted other key energy saving practices, which include:
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Rainwater harvesting and reuse in the factory ablutions.
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Interceptors for contaminates installed in the drainage system.
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State of the art motion sensitive exterior lighting.
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Used cans crushed and recycled.
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Steel and Aluminium offcut recycling.
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Progressive change to LED lighting in our buildings.
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Crushers for any mineral waste towards upcycling.
SOLAR FARM
The Solar Farm was built in 2014 on proven low productivity agricultural land located on Gosfield Airfield. Spanning an area of 55 acres, 44,976 solar panels are carefully positioned in an optimal south facing position 2 metres above the ground, enabling animal grazing, plant life and other natural habitats to flourish. Each panel is individually wired to central inverters and are capable of producing up to 11.47MWp of clean renewable electricity per annum, which is enough electricity to power approximately 3,545 homes.
The Solar Farm provides for all of our electrical consumption during daylight hours every day of the year, and surplus electricity flows back to the grid for powering local homes. Using green energy to power our manufacturing operation allows us to be as environmentally friendly as possible, saving a huge 165,000 tonnes of carbon over the next 25 years.
ANAEROBIC DIGESTER
The Anaerobic Digester plant is capable of producing up to 6,000 kW per day of electricity and up to 8,136 kW per day of thermal heat. This would be enough electricity to power approximately 619 homes per day and thermally heat approximately 150 homes per day.
Anaerobic digestion is the process by which organic matter is broken down to produce biogas. This happens in a sealed, oxygen-free tank, where biogas is naturally created in the tank is used as a fuel, in a combined heat and power unit, to generate renewable energy i.e. electricity and heat.
All organic matter that is fed in to the Anaerobic Digester is grown on our farms, including maize, grass and whole crop cereal. What’s left from the process is a nutrient rich biofertiliser. Our Anaerobic Digester is capable of producing 3,000 tonnes of organic fertiliser, which is spread back on to our own farmland in place of fossil fuel derived fertilisers and saves five tonnes of carbon for every ton of Nitrogen.
The Anaerobic Digester will power the factory at night and will fulfil some of the factory’s heat requirements, replacing significant usage of fossil fuels. Surplus electricity flows to the grid to provide electricity for the local area.
