Your Co-op Food Store in Copthorne Reducing Energy Usage With Installation of More Than 160 Solar Panels

The Your Co-op Food store in Copthorne, Shropshire, has demonstrated its commitment to reducing its carbon footprint with the installation of 162 solar panels over the Christmas period.

Working in partnership with the Big Solar Co-op, a not-for-profit organisation which aims to solarise UK businesses and buildings, the Copthorne store’s panels will generate 58,000 kilowatt hours each year – equating to 19% of the store’s energy needs and a reduction in CO2 emissions of over 12 tonnes per year.

The solar panels form part of a wider sustainability strategy from The Midcounties Co-operative, which operates the Your Co-op Food Copthorne as one of more than 230 Your Co-op Food sites across the West Midlands, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.

The Society, owned and operated by its 700,000 members, has partnered with the Big Solar Co-op to work towards reducing its Greenhouse Gas emissions by 40% by 2026 compared to 2019 levels. The partnership will see solar panels installed across a range of Midcounties Co-operative food, travel and Childcare sites.

Alongside the Copthorne store, the Society’s head offices in Warwick have also been solarised by the Big Solar Co-op with 141 panels installed in the summer of 2024.

Pete Westall, chief values officer for The Midcounties Co-operative, said: “We, as a Society, put sustainability at the forefront of everything we do and that’s why partnerships such as this with the Big Solar Co-op are so important for us.

The Your Co-op Food store in Copthorne is one of the first of our sites to benefit from the installation of solar panels and we’re looking forward to continuing working with our partners, our colleagues and our members to keep doing good together and reducing our carbon footprint even further over the coming months and years.”

Noel Lambert, Community & Content Lead for the Big Solar Co-op, said: “The Your Co-op Food store in Copthorne is just one of many Midcounties Co-operative sites which will benefit from the installation of solar panels. Together, we are working to combat climate change with clean, community funded energy and putting our Big Solar co-operative values into practice with this partnership.”

Every time a member shops or chooses a service, the Society also give backs to the community – from buying a pint of milk to booking a holiday, doing good together. To join Your Co-op as a member or for more information, please visit the website here.

The Big Solar Co-op funds it's installations through a rolling community share offer. Find out more on their website: https://bigsolar.coop/buy-shares/