Optima Products

Optima Products- an international leader committed to Net Zero

Optima is an international leader in glass partitioning systems and solutions. Having pioneered the glazed partitioning and doors market in the late 1980s, they have over 30 years’ experience in the glass partitioning industry.

Now with an international reach through their UK and Malaysian manufacturing, they continue to innovate, creating effective and innovative workspaces in some of the world’s most iconic buildings.

As a leading sustainable glass partition manufacturer, Optima are committed to reducing their UK manufacturing carbon footprint to zero by 2035. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, Optima are laser-focused on adopting transformation, energy efficiency and operational enhancements.

A key element of this strategy was to deploy onsite rooftop solar generation at their British manufacturing facility, based on a five-acre site near Bath and serving UK and international markets.

The challenge- reducing energy costs, cutting carbon emissions and increasing energy resilience

Optima approached eEnergy to design, procure, install and maintain a rooftop solar system for their UK manufacturing facility. Like many manufacturing facilities, the site has a high energy use.

Taking this decisive action would enable Optima to dramatically reduce energy costs, make significant reductions in their carbon emissions and increase their energy resilience by reducing reliance on energy purchased from the grid to minimise exposure to volatile wholesale electricity prices.

Optima were keen to ensure that the design and system size would optimise the commercial and environmental performance of their solar generation. They also required a turnkey solution covering, design, procurement, installation and ongoing maintenance.

The solution- a turnkey approach delivering optimised savings from clean solar energy

eEnergy’s expert solar team swung into action, designing a solar system that was tailored to Optima’s requirements and energy consumption profile. This ensured the optimal balance between self-consumption, yield, cost of grid energy, system size and cost of the installation.

The design adhered to all regulatory compliance regarding positioning of the solar PV arrays, whilst taking into account shading and roof orientation to maximise yields.

The resulting proposal was a 284kWp roof mounted system comprising of 568 x 500w solar panels. After conducting a cost benefit analysis on the options, this design produced the optimum cost savings, which would allow Optima to:

• Consume 65% of the energy generated themselves
• Be 20.7% energy self-sufficient
• Export surplus generated energy to the grid, providing additional income for Optima in the short term, and in the longer term, providing a degree of future proofing for the electrification of other onsite services as part of Optima’s Net Zero journey. In this scenario, the surplus could be used to offset additional future loads, further improving cost and carbon savings.

eEnergy’s turnkey solution managed the procurement of high quality, investment grade solar technology. Our expert team then took care of the installation and commissioning of the solar system for Optima, whilst minimising the impact on their day-to-day operations.

A comprehensive ongoing maintenance package ensures Optima’s solar system remains hassle free. Ongoing support includes daily system monitoring, monthly reporting on performance, full warranty, call out and a performance guarantee, together with an annual report with recommendations such as cleaning and new technology.

The results

• 25-year net saving: £2.48m
• Reduction in CO2 emissions of 32 tonnes per annum, equivalent to planting 1550 trees
• 20.7% energy self sufficiency
• 20% reduction in grid electricity spend
• 259,018 kWh first year solar energy generation