Furniture and homeware retailer Dunelm’s solar panel installation project will see 2,600 panels installed at its sites across the UK during this financial year.
The new panels are being placed on the retailer’s stores and support centres, with photovoltaic – or PV – panels already installed at several locations, including 442 at its Bristol store, 410 at its Derby site, and 262 on the roof of Dunelm’s head office in Leicester.
Dunelm’s solar panel project will ramp up over the coming months, with this year’s programme expected to produce 930,700 kWh’s of electricity, which would represent a significant shift towards renewable energy usage.
Alongside Dunelm’s solar panel project comes a general commitment to improving its sustainability credentials across operations, with a particular focus on energy efficiency at its sites.
This entails engaging its staff to promote energy efficiency and replacing gas-fired heating and refrigerants with lower carbon alternatives, but also boosting recycling rates. Dunelm also transitioned to Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin qualifying electricity sources for the majority of its sites in 2019.
Steven Barton, director of property at Dunelm, commented: “We’re very proud to be stepping up the solar panel roll-out across our sites.
“It’s just one part of our commitment to reducing our environmental impact and in line with our ambition to reach net zero by 2040.”
Last summer, Dunelm invested in ten new delivery vehicles that it said represented a move towards “more responsible transportation”.
The UK-based retailer said it will “significantly reduce the carbon footprint of its transport fleet and the business as a whole” through the deployment of nine tractor units powered by compressed natural gas and one electric vehicle for supporting store deliveries.
As part of longer-term environmental targets, Dunelm is looking to reduce its carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 against a 2019 baseline.
[Image credit: Green Retail World]
