Greener greens: Eden Sustainable and ROOF partner on solar project for Huntapac.

Eden Sustainable and Atrato Onsite Energy plc (ROOF) have reached financial close and commenced construction on a 1.3MW commercial rooftop solar installation for vegetable producer and supplier Huntapac. Huntapac Produce Ltd is a fourth-generation family-owned business that has been operating since 1942, growing carrots and parsnips for leading UK supermarkets, and farms c.3000 acres across the country.

The project will power Huntapac’s headquarters in Preston, Lancashire, with green energy. The solar panels will produce long term, fixed price electricity at a significant discount to wholesale power prices.

Huntapac is committed to working with its supply chains, customers and within the agriculture sector to reduce its impact and to aid its transition to a low carbon operation. Stephen Shields, Technical Director at Huntapac said ‘We recognise that climate change is one of the biggest challenges that the UK’s agricultural sector faces; this installation is a key part of Huntapac achieving its commitment to net zero by 2040’.

Recognising the balance between its own operations and the environment, Huntapac has been an early adopter of, and is one of five UK farms participating in a new 3-year project run by sustainable food organisation LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming), a standard which aims to reduce farms’ greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate progress to net-zero production. This solar installation is a key part of Huntapac’s commitment to LEAF.

Commercial solar expert Eden Sustainable has worked hard with Huntapac for many months to design and develop the project and has chosen to partner with specialist funder ROOF. The 1.3MW project comprises 2,823 solar panels covering 6,300 square metres of the roof of Huntapac’s main site. The project is expected to reduce CO2 equivalent emissions by nearly 250,000 kg in the first year. Huntapac’s power purchase agreement covers the installation and all operations and maintenance over the project’s lifetime, with no upfront capital expenditure required. The installation also included a wider electrical upgrade to enable Huntapac to expand its onsite cold storage facilities.

Eden has originated, developed and installed over 25MW of solar projects under power purchase agreements in recent years, and is part of a wider group including a foundation supporting climate change and people displacement causes. The upfront cost of the project is provided by ROOF as part of its rollout of £150 million of solar projects since listing on the London Stock Exchange in November 2021.

Gareth Williams, Head of Business Development at Eden Sustainable said: “We are delighted to be working with Huntapac to deliver its solar rooftop solution and to have reached financial close, following a very collaborative development journey with the client and our chosen funding partner ROOF. We now look forward to generating the first kW hours of solar energy.”

Will Hunter, Director at Huntapac said: “We’ve been supplying greens to UK tabletops for 80 years and the addition of solar means we now have green credentials to our core. This project will help to future proof our energy demands. The Eden team has been brilliant throughout.”

Gurpreet Gujral, Managing Director, Renewable Energy at Atrato Group, said: “Turning vegetables green is all part of our plan to deliver cheaper, traceable, renewable power for Britain’s businesses. Working with suppliers like Huntapac in turn helps larger corporates also deliver on their sustainable, net zero operations across their own business.

“We look forward to continuing to support Huntapac’s net zero mission and helping them put lower-carbon food on Britain’s plates.”