Tobermore Concrete

Situated on the edge of Tobermore village, Tobermore Concrete Products are one of the top paving and walling manufacturers in the UK and Ireland. Starting off as a humble sand and gravel business in 1942, the Henderson family-owned business had a turnover of over £50 million last year and employs over 300 people at the Tobermore and Lough Fea sites. Their products have been installed across the UK and Ireland, Wembley Stadium, Heathrow Airport Terminal 2 and Queen’s University Belfast to name a few.

We caught up with Trevor Smyth, Works Manager at Tobermore to discuss how they have embraced renewable energy as a means of reducing production costs. As with most businesses, electricity is a major cost for Tobermore. Trevor explains, “To keep up with demand, our plant at Tobermore runs 24 hours a day. This means we can be subjected to the peak electricity rates which can be over 35p per kWh at certain times of the year”. This led Tobermore to look into the viability of a wind turbine for the plant in 2009, back before the four ROCs banding level came into place. However, it was not until 2013 when they were advised to contact Farm Energy NI did the project begin to take shape. The Tobermore site is in quite a low lying area meaning that wind availability is quite limited. “FENI advised us to opt for an EWT 250kW turbine on a 75m tower in order to make the best use of the available wind resource on-site”. Even at 75m, the wind speeds are little over 5 metres per second, often considered the minimum wind speed to be viable.

The wind turbine was commissioned in June 2015, with FENI taking charge of the Ofgem accreditation, ROCs trading and PPA negotiations. Following a detailed feasibility study, Tobermore has also invested in solar PV, installing a 50kW system in 2013 which was subsequently expanded to 200kW in 2016, along with a ground-mounted 50kW system at their Lough Fea premises.

With the high on-site energy demand, approximately 90% of the electricity generated from the wind turbine and solar PV at the Tobermore site and 100% of the electricity at Lough Fea is used by the business. “Generating our own electricity has several benefits to our business, not only cost savings and security of supply, but it also adds to our commitment to sustainable practices and carbon footprint”. In addition, Trevor also tells us that Tobermore has reduced their waste to landfill to zero, recycle 100% of their manufacturing residue and use recycled packaging.

In terms of what their membership to Farm Energy NI means, Trevor says “the FENI team have been with us every step of our renewable journey. Their expertise and knowledge have been invaluable in helping us make the right decisions. They are always at the end of the phone and that matters a lot to us at Tobermore”

aerial photo of Tobermore site with Wind Turbine & Solar Panels