Fitzpatrick Referrals

Noel Fitzpatrick commissioned isoenergy to help his practice reduce its carbon footprint. As a veterinary referral centre, the business has some very energy intensive equipment such as a MRI scanner, X-Ray machines and a hydrotherapy pool. All this equipment uses a significant amount of electricity which was being bought from the grid.

Isoenergy quickly identified that there was a significant area of south facing roof on the site which could be used to mount solar panels. A free on-site survey confirmed that a total of 117 panels could be mounted across two roofs. Together this has the potential to generate 29.25kW at peak efficiency.
Installation of the panels on the metal roof went ahead whilst the practice was open to the public so isoenergy gave full consideration to this whilst operating. Particularly as the Channel 4 cameras were shooting a new episode of Super Vets at the time.

The all-black 250W panels are mounted on to the roof using short mini-rails designed specifically for trapezoidal metal roofs.

Each string of panels is connected to an SMA inverter which is on a wall in the plant room. This inverter converts the DC electricity generated by the panels into AC for use in the practice. As they are open during daylight hours, the equipment on the site will use the majority the electricity generated offering a direct saving to the business.

When the energy demand in the building is lower than the amount being produced, the excess is exported to the National Grid providing a further income in addition to the Feed-in-Tariff paid by the Government. It is anticipated the system will have paid for itself in revenue generation in around seven years.