EV for PV: delivering solar in a fully sustainable way
We're running an EV relay to transport solar panels to our customers - cutting carbon even before we make our way up on the roof!
Up and down the country, in a first-of-its-kind trial, we’re using an interconnected network of electric vehicles to transport and deliver solar panels to customers’ homes ready for installation - and by reducing both miles and engine emissions we're delivering carbon savings even before we've made it up on the roof.
Installing more and more photovoltaic (PV) solar panels on our homes is good for the planet – and is by far the most popular way for people to generate their own energy at home or in business – but the way many are currently transported is not as environmentally friendly as it could be, with most deliveries around the country dependent on diesel vehicles.
With our solar wholesale partner Segen and AI logistics company POSTX we’re pioneering an initiative where electric vehicles (EVs) provide an emission-free delivery at no extra cost to the customer. Using a zero-carbon logistics model, the EVs allow us to deliver our solar and storage solutions in small trailers to multiple customer locations, with a relay style delivery for longer journeys where the trailers are passed to the next vehicle in the network chain.
So far this year, more than 120 solar and storage deliveries have been made, covering almost 26,000 miles in delivery distances. That means to date we've avoided between 26,100kg and 44,700kg of CO2 going into the atmosphere, compared to a traditional fossil fuel powered delivery (the specific number depends on the size of the lorry we could have otherwise used).
There are now more than 1.6 million solar installs in the UK, covering just over 5% of all homes across the country - with almost 200,000 installations in 2023, according to Government figures. So our trial project could scale up to potentially thousands of tonnes of carbon savings by scaling this up nationally as the uptake of home solar installation grows.
Solar energy is the fastest growing renewable energy solution, saving the average home a tonne of carbon every year, so even more reason to make every step of the journey to solar power more sustainable.
The trial results speak for themselves with its success already award winning, picking up Partnership of the Year at this year's National Sustainability Awards.