The Deep

The Deep in Hull, East Yorkshire, is a popular and thriving tourist attraction that is also an environmental charity keen to promote awareness and environmentally friendly high standards.

Over the years, The Deep has looked frequently at the possibilities of generating its own electricity to help power the large water pumps and fish tanks, as well as the tourist displays, however due to feasibility and prohibitive costs this never materialised.

However, in 2014 the attraction decided again to re-evaluate the issue and believed that the time was now right to install solar PV panels as the form of renewable generation on site.

Colin Brown is the chief executive of The Deep, he said: "As a leading tourist attraction and a conservation charity, it makes perfect sense for us to install solar panels to generate our own electricity. We have wanted to do this for some time and now we have found the perfect supplier in Discover Energy, one of the country's leading solar installation firms."

Indeed, there was a competitive tendering process which saw award-winning Discover Energy proving that; not only did they have the experience and expertise, they also offered the most comprehensive on-going support.

The installation at The Deep took a week to install and resulted in 299 solar PV panels being installed on the roof of The Deep’s popular business centre - it was decided that this was the most effective place for them to be placed after Discover Energy had carried out their site specific survey with due diligence.

The solar installation began producing electricity from the moment it was connected and The Deep now benefits from a 77.74kWp system which produces enough electricity to power the equivalent of 20 domestic properties.

This means the solar panel installation has had a huge impact on The Deep’s energy bill and it should pay for itself earlier than expected.

Jack Oxtoby, Discover Energy’s technical manager, said: "Hopefully, our work at The Deep will underline to other firms and organisations in Hull and East Yorkshire that installing solar panels can make a big difference to their energy bills, as well as promoting a greener future and creating a greater emphasis on larger businesses to generate their own electricity on site."

Mr Oxtoby added that companies of all sizes can benefit from solar panels and that Discover Energy are busy undertaking similar installations for engineering and agricultural firms across Yorkshire and are now one of the North East’s leading solar PV providers.

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