Installed in March and commissioned by late April, the array is Bury St Edmunds-based Denny Bros’ third and cost around £200,000, with £20,000 provided by the BEE grant. The grant is designed to assist businesses in Norfolk and Suffolk looking to cut energy costs.
Prior to this latest installation, the label and leaflet specialist had already halved its carbon footprint in recent years and successfully launched initiatives to reduce its landfill waste, increase recycling and promote green commuting.
Managing director Graham Denny said: “We decided to boost our solar power capacity and then applied for the grant. It is a significant amount of money, but corporate social responsibility (CSR) is important to us so we would have done this anyway.
“Although the weather has not been particularly great so far in June, we had great outputs in April and May. Our factory is 7,060sqm and when our solar array is working fully, it generates enough electricity to power the whole thing without using the grid.
“Clients will benefit indirectly because this keeps our costs down. As a family-owned business we are very aware of our reputation and want to do our best to minimise our impact on the environment. We are on our way to becoming carbon neutral, which a lot of our customers are interested in seeing happen.”
The newest array can generate up to 150kW of power and, as well as cost savings, could potentially draw a £12,000 annual income to Denny Bros.
Denny Bros also promotes its eco credentials through its efforts to send less than 4% of its waste to landfill – a figure Denny said he hopes to reduce further – and by having its directors all drive electric or hybrid cars and encouraging staff to cycle to work. Its first solar array was installed in 2014.
The company is targeting a 7% growth on its £10m turnover for the year, though Denny said it was running ahead of expectations at 10% currently.
Denny Bros’ print operation employs 58 members of staff across a wider group of nine companies spanning sectors such as equipment manufacture, conferencing and retail and trade supplies, with 110 total staff.
