Tesco to install solar panels on 100 stores over next three years

By installing solar panels on the roofs of 100 Tesco stores over the next three years, the company anticipate generating sufficient electricity to charge the equivalent of 300,000 electric home delivery vans.

The project will form part of a number of new Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with renewables investors. These are long-term renewable energy contracts which provide companies such as Tesco with a reliable way of decarbonising their electricity consumption.

Prior to launching this latest drive, Tesco had already fitted solar panels to 40 stores, which last year generated over 10.5GWh of electricity, enough to power 3,800 homes.

The first of the new tranche of stores to have solar fitted is in Thetford, where more than 1,000 solar panels have been installed as part of a PPA with renewables investors, Atrato Onsite Energy. These will provide around 300MWh of electricity per year.

Four more stores will begin construction before the end of the year: Stevenage (expected to generate around 275MWh of electricity a year), Wisbech (660 MWh), Kings Lynn (530MWh) and Stockport (275MWh).

Tesco met its 2030 ambition to switch to 100% renewable electricity in its own operations across ten years early, through a mixture of direct sourcing and renewable certificates. They are now acting to ensure the majority of this renewable electricity comes from direct sourcing.

They company have also set a target of  becoming carbon neutral across its own operations by 2035.

Ken Murphy, Group CEO said: ‘As we all face into the effects of climate change, scaling up our use of clean renewable energy has never been more important. That’s why we are continuing our work to source green electricity from our own estate, setting out ambitious plans to install solar panels on the roofs of 100 of our large stores across the UK over the next three years – moving us further towards our target to be carbon neutral in our own operations by 2035.’

Gurpreet Gujral, Managing Director at Atrato Partners, who are installing solar panels at Tesco’s Thetford store said:
‘Tesco has made impressive progress in its ambitious journey towards net zero, and we are proud to be working together to deliver the next phase of a solar rollout across their portfolio of supermarkets. As the UK’s leading food retailer, Tesco’s adoption of onsite solar will have a significant impact on emissions, and we look forward to supporting the business over the coming years to bring clean, traceable energy to more sites up and down the country.’