PLASTICS giant Brett Martin has become the first major manufacturer in Northern Ireland to benefit from combined renewable supply sources.
The privately-owned £150 million-turnover Mallusk firm, set up 60 years ago, is now procuring renewable electricity from a solar installation funded and developed by Lightsource BP, Europe's biggest developer of industrial-scale solar projects.
Combined with the energy supplied by Brett Martin's on-site wind turbine, the company now receives a quarter of its energy requirements from renewable sources.
Lightsource financed, completed and now operates the 6.42MWp solar installation at Gibson Farm in Newtownabbey which is hard-wired directly into Brett Martin's facility a mile away.
The solar installation can output enough clean solar energy to power the equivalent of 1,600 homes, providing around 14 per cent of the centre's annual electricity demand.
The solar installation, built on 35 acres of locally-owned farmland, provides an estimated saving of 2,000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year, equal to taking nearly 1,000 cars off the road.
Brett Martin managing director Laurence Martin said: "We are experiencing a period of significant growth and development recording an uplift in turnover of £17m since last year and a headcount increase of 138 in the same period.
"Our core activity of processing plastics is very energy intensive, and with energy costs in Northern Ireland at around 25 per cent more than the European average, initiatives like this are critical to help us maintain our competitive edge in a global marketplace where half our sales are exported.
"We were one of the first local manufacturers to instal a wind turbine in 2011, delivering 11 per cent of our energy costs, and this partnership with Lightsource now more than doubles our renewable footprint and highlights our commitment to environmentally sensitive manufacturing practice."
Lightsource chief executiveNick Boyle said: "We're delighted to have developed this project with Brett Martin, who join other partnerships including Belfast International Airport, Bentley Motors and Thames Water in procuring renewable electricity.
"Choosing to source solar electricity via private-wire provides Brett Martin with a long-term hedging strategy against rising costs in today's volatile energy market."
Meanwhile in a separate development dairy cooperative Dale Farm has launched the largest ‘self-consumption’ solar farm in Ireland at its cheese processing facility outside Cookstown, achieving a major milestone in sustainability within the global dairy sector.
The project, which guarantees 20 years of green energy for the company, is one of the largest of its kind in dairy worldwide.
The 37-acre solar farm, connected directly to the company’s network, is now powering Dale Farm’s cheddar cheese plant at Dunmanbridge.
It was designed and delivered in partnership with Dublin company CES Energy and will reduce Dale Farm’s carbon footprint by 20 per cent as well as delivering multi-million-pound cost savings.
