STAGECOACH AIMS TO DELIVER CARBON
SAVINGS THROUGH SOLAR POWER
· Project to install solar panels at UK Bus depots to reduce carbon
footprint and operating costs
·
Innovative initiative underway
with partners Visolaris and REI
· 20-year project to potentially save 3million kgCO2
Stagecoach Group has announced plans to
deliver further carbon savings at its UK Bus division through the use of solar
power.
The Perth-based company is driving
forward an innovative initiative to have solar panels installed at a number of
its bus depots across the UK.
Working with partners renewable energy
company Visolaris and the Renewable Energy Investment (REI), solar panels have
been fitted to Stagecoach’s Chesterfield depot and work is underway to install
the energy saving technology at the company’s Daw Bank bus depot in Stockport.
It is anticipated that the project will
also be rolled out to other Stagecoach depots across the UK, helping to reduce
carbon emissions and costs by generating a significant proportion of clean green
renewable electricity.
Virtually all of the locally generated
electricity will be used by each site and will significantly reduce each depot’s
electricity bills, thereby enabling Stagecoach to gain greater security and certainty
over their future electricity costs.
Any spare electricity will also be sold
back to the National Grid by partners Visolaris and REI.
Over the 20-year period of the
agreements it is thought that, between the Chesterfield and Daw Bank sites alone,
more than 3million kgCO2 could be saved, with potential financial savings of up
to £1.1million.
Chesterfield will benefit from a 250
kilowatt peak (kWp) installation of 962 solar panels while in Stockport a 280kWp
system of 1076 solar panels will be fitted.
Stagecoach Regional Director Sam Greer
said: “This is a new and innovative project that we believe will, over time,
help us to reduce our carbon footprint further as well as making financial
savings.
“This is an example of how we can
benefit from new technology at our existing sites to help minimise the impact
of our operations on the environment and play our part in tackling the global
challenge of climate change.”
Visolaris CEO Charles Hesketh said: “Visolaris
are delighted to be working with Stagecoach Group to help meet their
environmental targets over the coming years.
Reducing electricity bills and cutting harmful CO2 emissions should be
the objective of every company in the UK.
Doing so without any capital outlay makes it all the more appealing”.
REI Managing Director Simon Booth said: “Our solar power purchase scheme is ideally
suited to organisations like Stagecoach who wished to preserve their own
capital to invest in their core operational business, whilst identifying there
existed a significant opportunity to reduce their electricity bills and cut
their carbon emissions”
The project is part of Stagecoach’s stretching
environmental targets over the coming years. Earlier this year the Group launched its new
five-year strategy, Shared responsibility, shared future, which has been
produced in partnership with the Carbon Trust and sets out a package of
investments at the Group’s bus and rail businesses.
It follows a 30% reduction in Stagecoach Group’s
carbon intensity since 2007-08 and the achievement of previous targets 12
months ahead of schedule.
In 2013-2014, Stagecoach had a total carbon
footprint of 1,563,000 tCO2e, a water footprint of 835,000 m3, a
waste footprint of 10,200 tonnes and a waste recycling rate of 77%
By April 2019, the Group is aiming to:
- reduce
buildings carbon emissions by 7%
- cut
like-for-like fleet transport carbon emissions by 2%
- lower
water consumption by 9%
- achieve
a waste recycling rate of 83%
Stagecoach Group has already been awarded the
prestigious Carbon Trust Standard for measuring, managing and reducing its
global carbon footprint, becoming the first public transport operator to have
its boundaries certified outside of Europe.