Aviva has invested in solar roof systems for three of its offices in the UK. The solar panels will enable Aviva to save energy, which is in line with the organization’s commitment to reduce its carbon emissions. The panels will generate 445,000kWh of energy each year, for the next 25 years, which will offset Aviva’s reliance on grid energy and cut energy costs.

Solarcentury has installed solar roof systems on buildings at three sites: Perth in Scotland and Norwich and Bristol in England. The majority of energy consumed is during daylight hours, which aligns perfectly with solar PV technology. Remote monitoring has been installed to give real-time performance data to the Aviva energy team, allowing them to understand the benefits of installing solar.

Lee Preston, Group carbon and utilities manager at Aviva Insurance said, “We’re committed to understanding the organisational environmental impact and are now working hard to reduce it, through a range of initiatives that will help us to reduce our carbon emissions by 40% by 2050. We hope that by 2025, all electricity we use will be from 100% renewable sources. We already reduce our carbon emissions through energy efficiency measures such as LED lighting; we’re now taking this one stage further by investing in solar. We needed a solar partner who could overcome the technical challenges presented by our complex roof structures.”

Solarcentury will be carrying out all O&M for the next 10 years and full monitoring to ensure consistency of operation. Solarcentury has also provided a unique yield guarantee to assure Aviva that the systems generate as anticipated.

Neil Perry, CFO at Solarcentury comments, “Making use of unused roof spaces by installing solar is such a simple and cost effective way to help businesses save money and do their bit for the environment. Installing systems for Aviva across its Scottish and English sites demonstrates the opportunity for solar, even at these latitudes, and the energy demand perfectly matches the energy profile for these buildings. Installing solar also demonstrates to employees and customers that the company is genuinely committed to reducing its environmental impact.”

All three systems have been successfully installed and commissioned, and since they’re designed for self-consumption, the clean solar electricity is now being used directly by the buildings to power things like the lighting and office equipment, and call centre operations in Perth and Norwich. This gives a strong message of social and environmental responsibility to Aviva employees and customers.