Fabrication solar case studies
Representative fabrication solar projects across the UK. The figures below are modelled from real building and load profiles and typical UK irradiance, and show the kind of system, saving and payback we design and deliver for metal fabrication and engineering shops.
180 kW rooftop install for a West Midlands sheet-metal and CNC fabricator
A trade fabrication shop near Wolverhampton running two fibre lasers, press brakes, a bank of MIG welders and a 45 kW rotary-screw compressor on a single day shift, in a 1,200 square metre portal-frame unit. The owner faced a doubled electricity bill and net-zero questions in tenders from a rail-sector customer. The steady laser-chiller and compressor baseload made the site an ideal high-self-consumption candidate.
- System size
- 180 kW (400 panels, roof-mounted)
- Annual generation
- 165,000 kWh
- Annual saving
- £34,000 (year one, escalating with grid tariff)
- Simple payback
- 4.6 years
Outcome: 86 percent self-consumption on a single-shift daytime load. LEV extraction penetrations designed into the array layout. Funded via asset finance, cash-flow positive from month one, and the on-site renewable line item retained a preferred-supplier position.
320 kW install for a North East structural-steel fabricator
A structural-steel shop supplying construction and infrastructure clients, running drilling lines, saws, shot-blast and heavy welding under EOT overhead cranes in a 2,600 square metre clear-span shed. BES 6001 and CBAM pressure from main-contractor customers, plus a tired incoming supply, drove the project. Crane-rail loads had to be deducted from the roof's residual capacity before design.
- System size
- 320 kW (700 panels, roof-mounted)
- Annual generation
- 290,000 kWh
- Annual saving
- £61,000
- Simple payback
- 4.2 years
Outcome: 83 percent self-consumption. Structural engineer confirmed residual roof capacity after crane-rail dead load. Renewable-energy share reported into the customer's responsibly-sourced-steel and Scope 3 disclosures, strengthening tender scores.
90 kW install for a Yorkshire welding and engineering workshop on a leased unit
A sub-contract welding and jobbing engineering firm on a five-year lease in a 700 square metre unit near Sheffield, running spiky MIG and TIG loads on top of a compressor and whole-shop LEV extraction. Margins were tight on tendered work and the tenure ruled out a large capital spend, so a zero-capex route was needed.
- System size
- 90 kW (200 panels, roof-mounted)
- Annual generation
- 82,000 kWh
- Annual saving
- £17,500
- Simple payback
- 5.4 years
Outcome: Near-total daytime self-consumption. Funded through a Power Purchase Agreement with landlord consent, so the fabricator paid nothing up front and bought solar power below grid for the life of the lease.