Case Study // Project Overview

Chambers Group Yorkshire Timber Merchants - Garrards 

Garrards is part of the JC Chambers Group of Timber Merchants across Yorkshire. They are a heavy power user with milling and machining for up to 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. With the business in a highly competitive sector they wanted the competitive advantage benefits of generating their own power through Solar PV that we had delivered elsewhere in their group, but there was difficulty with the buildings. 

The Showroom was ideal to use as a modern trapezoidal steel roof but, to hit the size of system that they needed we would have to use one of the two roof surfaces that had previously been deemed “un-usable” - the Wood Mill or the Warehouse. 

Working with Garrards we looked to solve several problems at once whilst, giving the Solar PV benefits. We selected the oldest roof in the poorest condition, the Wood Mill, that also had the long-term issue of potential Asbestos in the Cement Fibre surface. 

The plan was to create a brand-new Trap Steel overclad that provided our customer with a new, fully guaranteed roofing surface. As well as a new roof the plan was to avoid the costs of the old roof disposal/ loss of production and provide the most cost-effective canvas for their Solar PV system. 

KEY STATS

  • PV system size: 221.27kWp

  • Number of panels: 397

  • Annual kWh generation: 170.12MWh

The Results

A 221.27kWp Solar PV system delivering an estimated 170,000kWhs per annum to the business with a projected 81% self-consumption rate – leaving a healthy balance which has achieved a commercial contract to export to the Grid. Since its installation, it is performing above predictions and is on track to provide circa 50% of the annual power usage of the factory - with a full financial payback in under 3-years.

In the bluntest terms, by late 2026, Garrards Timber Mill will be getting half of their electrical power “for free”. With the small additional costs of servicing and maintenance, they will continue to do so for a further 20 years and more.

In projects like these we have supported clients to achieve 100% Asset Finance for the whole scheme, including the new roof. 

With finance spread up to 10 years it is entirely possible to address expensive roof renewals that have been put off, bring in a money-making asset in Solar PV and for it to be cash positive from day one without spending a single penny of your own capital – The annual repayments being significantly lower than the annual savings made by the PV.

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