Bird & Blend Tea Co. is an independent Brighton-based tea company with their warehouse in Goring-by-sea where they installed a 63kW solar PV array.
They received a £18,684 grant through our Community Solar Accelerator programme.
The project was led by Bird and Blend Tea Co’s Sustainability and Ethics Lead Acushla Bennett who is working to meet the company’s environmental objectives of having 100% renewable energy use at their warehouse and reduce emissions associated with transmission and distribution of electricity.
“As sustainability is something really important to Bird and Blend, we have been exploring the options of having solar panels installed on our warehouse for some time. However, the cost was always quite prohibitive. Finding that CSA could facilitate a grant application for us, was a great help and made the project feasible for us.
The process was quite straightforward, and the CSA guidance helped us get a successful installation.
We’re already saving money on our energy bills and will soon be exporting surplus energy to the grid. With the system set up for a few weeks, we’ve already saved 2262 kg of CO2!”- Acushla Bennett, Sustainability and Ethics Lead
Solar Impact in Numbers
Size or Solar PV array: 63kW
Predicted production of electricity: 65,643 kWh per year
Predicted cost savings: £8,975 in the first year
Return on Investment: 3 years (will be less as electricity prices increase)
Grant Amount Received: £18,684
Expected lifetime of the solar PV system: 25-30 years
Carbon Reduction: 22.1 tonnes CO2e per year
Date of install: Sep 2022
*CO2e calculated with conversion factor of 0.35156kg CO2e/kWh as confirmed with the managing authority.
