» FAMILY-RUN FIRM C & A BUILDING Products , a Freefoam stockist for almost 20 years , is an independent supplier of plastic building materials and has been operating for 55 years across the UK .

In March last year , C & A Building Products used a local firm to install an 84 solar panel , 35-kilowatt system with 24-kilowatt battery storage on one of its warehouses at its Gillingham depot . Since installation , C & A Building Products has been 80 % self-sufficient in energy , reaching as high as 100 % on some days .

Darren Beaumont , Director at C & A Building Products , the driving force behind the scheme says : “ Solar energy was something we have always considered . Everyone has to take some responsibility for the environment and as a business we should take our own fair share . There are so many ways that you can reduce energy consumption such as installing LED lightbulbs and recycling , if you can ’ t invest in something like solar panels . I think it ’ s

something that everyone should consider on some level .

“ The solar energy we produce first charges our requirement , secondly charges the battery , and once the batteries are full ,

anything left gets automatically exported back to the grid . Last year , we exported around 30 % of our energy . The system will also use the energy in the battery before it takes any from the grid , which is great .

“ It will take us less than five years to make back our investment in solar energy . We have seen how successful the installation has been for us and have decided to expand it . We are going to install 40 additional solar panels to our second , smaller warehouse this spring .”

Freefoam is building momentum on its own sustainability journey , transitioning from a linear to a circular economy with a range of projects and initiatives across all areas of the business , from recycling and rainwater harvesting to introducing a closed loop production process . In the UK , 100 % of the electricity Freefoam uses comes from solar energy .

www . freefoam . com www . cabp . co . uk

WESTMINSTER

RICHMOND

MAYFAIR

KINGSTON

COBHAM