2017 has been another busy and eventful year for EvoEnergy that has seen the company further cement its position as leaders for solar PV and battery storage solutions in the UK.
EvoEnergy finished 2016 with a 999 kWp installation at DPD (Oldbury), and this relationship continued in early 2017 where EvoEnergy commissioned a 450 kWp system at their neighbouring hub in Hinckley. The dynamic export control system used for the DPD Hinckley installation was a pioneering solution that went on to win the company a highly commendation accolade in the Innovation category at the 2017 Celebrating Construction awards.
In March, EvoEnergy also received two awards at the Energy Efficiency awards, collecting ‘East Midlands Solar PV Installer of the Year’ and ‘Small Project of the Year’ for the leading solar carport installation at Harvey Hadden Sports Village.
Just one month later, EvoEnergy were shortlisted finalists at the prestigious Nottingham Post Business awards in the flagship category ‘Nottinghamshire Company of the Year’. After a long elimination process involving several rounds, EvoEnergy picked up 3rd place, which was a proud achievement for the company.
In July, EvoEnergy joined their parent company – Stepnell – in celebrating 150 years of business. Incidentally, this year was also the 10th anniversary for EvoEnergy. Celebrations were held by competing in a dragon boat racing event at the Billing Aquadrome, attended by staff and their families from both companies.
With solar PV installations continuing throughout the year, the next iconic installation began in August where the largest solar PV array on a UK shopping centre was designed and installed for Landsec at their White Rose Shopping Centre in Leeds. This installation was completed in September with a further 50 kWp installed at another of Landsec’s shopping centres, Trinity Leeds, shortly after.
This year, EvoEnergy have continued to be proactive in developing their commercial battery energy storage system (BESS) opportunities by collaborating with battery manufacturers, funders and aggregators to offer a range of market-leading BESS solutions.
This work was instrumental to EvoEnergy being successful in proposing a fully funded solution to Lyreco (Telford) that would see the installation of the UK’s biggest commercial ‘behind the meter’ BESS combined with solar PV (EvoEnergy installed a 3.8MWp array for the company in 2016). Three electric vehicle charging stations are also part of the installation, with Lyreco now setting an example for other businesses to follow with regards to smart energy solutions. This project is now close to completion – watch this space for further announcements soon.
October was also an eventful month, with Grand Designs airing the Spiral house project where EvoEnergy designed and installed a bespoke curved solar PV array on the unique curved roof earlier in the year. To add to the awards success this year, in October, EvoEnergy also collected the prestige ‘Contractor of the Year’ accolade at the industry Solar Power Portal awards. Later that month, Tim Hickman, Technical Manager at EvoEnergy traveled over to Berlin to speak at the popular Smart Solar PV forum where he delivered a well-received presentation on Performance Measurement Innovation.
After completing a number of iconic installations in 2017, EvoEnergy worked on yet another iconic project by installing a 180 kWp array on the roof of the new US Embassy in Nine Elms, London. Due to the sensitive nature of the building and client, details and photography have not yet been published.
In November, EvoEnergy worked with industry-giant, Games Workshop, to install a 404 kWp array on the rooftop of their busy manufacturing site in Nottingham where millions of war game figures are produced and distributed every year.
With 2017 drawing to a close, EvoEnergy are still busy working on a number of projects; in particular the battery storage project at Trent Basin, which was announced at the start of the year but delayed due to changes in the development plans. Using Tesla technology, once installed in early 2018, this battery project will be another leading installation in the battery market.
To provide further education to the market about how smart energy solutions can work for their business, EvoEnergy launched a new interactive webpage in December (link above) that demonstrates the intelligence of multiple energy technologies working together to deliver energy independence. The launch of this content also coincided with a refresh of the website navigation system for an enhanced user experience of the site. Further educational content will also be made available online shortly – watch this space.
Overall, its’s been a successful year for EvoEnergy; innovating and delivering even more of the industry’s leading projects in both solar PV and battery. With an appetite from businesses to reduce their energy costs and increase energy independence through smart energy solutions, EvoEnergy are confident that 2018 will be another exciting year.
More reading: EvoEnergy’s Year in Review 2016.