Press Release: Latcham goes greener with community-owned solar

BRISTOL - Market-leading fulfilment and digital print specialist, Latcham, is leading the way in sustainability with a new community-owned solar array. The installation consists of an impressive 1,276 panels, saving 542 tonnes of carbon over 25 years. Thanks to a partnership with Bristol Energy Cooperative (BEC), the installation is three times bigger than originally planned. It’s all part of the business’s vision for a green energy future, which serves people and the planet. 

The solar panels power the Latcham’s office, IT, digital print, manufacturing and warehousing facilities. At 568kWp - enough to charge a mobile phone 44.7 million times over the year - most of this will be used on site, with any excess being sold to the electricity grid. BEC funded the installation and will own and manage the asset over its lifetime, meaning no upfront cost to Latcham.

As well as the carbon savings, the solar panels will see Latcham benefit from a guaranteed reduced rate, irrespective of price fluctuation in the open market. 

Bristol Energy Cooperative is one of the country’s largest community energy organisations, with a total of 13.5MW of clean energy generation, enough to power over 4,000 average homes. BEC is on a mission to build a power station on the rooftops of Bristol. As well as cutting bills and saving carbon emissions for host sites, revenues support a range of local community projects through grants, including community gardens aimed at cutting waste and food miles, and training bike mechanics to encourage the use of sustainable transport. Over the course of its lifetime, the Latcham installation is estimated to generate more than £50k for community benefit grants. 

“Latcham was keen to find a partner who could take full advantage of the large factory roof to go far beyond its own requirements,” said MD Mike Hughes.

“We’re really excited that Latcham has joined our community energy family,” said Helen Martin, CEO of Bristol Energy Cooperative. “Community energy is such a great way to go green and support important community projects. It’s real people power in action.”

The project is part of Bristol Energy Cooperative’s South West Local Solar Scheme, which installed 2 Megawatts of rooftop solar capacity across the West of England. BEC are now working on Phase 2 and is actively looking for new rooftops. The scheme is supported by funding from the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority’s Green Recovery Fund.

The solar array is part of Latcham’s commitment to sustainability against a backdrop of the climate crisis. One of their customers is the Royal Horticulture Society, for whom they print and fulfil membership packs. 

“We have been working relentlessly other many years to reduce to environmental impact such as replacing plastic membership cards with cardboard and bamboo cards, switching all our lighting to LED, upgrading our heating systems, moving to water/plant based digital inkjet printing, upgrading our IT to reduce energy consumption, upgrading our vehicles to electric and installing 10 car charging points on site,” Mike Hughes said.

“I take the environmental side personally,” he continued. “I have children in their twenties, and they care deeply about this, and so do I.”