Local Your Co-op Food Store Reducing Energy Usage With Installation of More Than 60 Solar Panels

The Ashby Road Your Co-op Food store in Daventry, Northamptonshire, has demonstrated its commitment to reducing its carbon footprint with the installation of 67 solar panels in time for World Environment Day this Thursday (5^th June).  

Working in partnership with the Big Solar Co-op, a not-for-profit organisation which aims to solarise UK businesses and buildings, the Daventry store’s panels will generate 30,000 kilowatt hours of energy each year, reducing CO2 emissions by over six tonnes each annum.

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

The Society, owned and operated by its 750,000 members, has partnered with the Big Solar Co-op as part of its efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2027 compared to 2019 levels. The partnership will see solar panels installed across a range of Midcounties sites.  

Alongside the Ashby Road store, over 300 solar panels have been installed at the Society’s head offices in Warwick and the Copthorne Your Co-op Food store in Shropshire, producing over 100,000 kilowatt hours of renewable energy each year and saving 20 tonnes of CO2.

Pete Westall, chief values officer for The Midcounties Co-operative, said: “As a Society, we 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 Daventry will 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 Daventry is just one of many of the Midcounties Co-operative’s 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 with Midcounties, it helps the Society give back to the community. From buying a pint of milk to booking a holiday, members can know that we are doing good together by supporting the local causes that matter to them. To join Midcounties as a member or for more information, please visit our 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/