Maxims Holdings transforms warehouse rooftop into solar

As part of its sustainability strategy, Maxims Holdings, a diversified Board of Investment (BOI) company transformed the rooftop in its futuristic warehousing complex at Old Road, Mulleriyawa with solar panels.

With a system capacity of 640- kilowatt ‘ peak’ power output of a system, the rooftop now generates 880 megawatts annually.

This facilitates the company's focus on sustainable initiatives and is aimed at reducing energy costs and relying on grid energy, a company official said. He said renewables are crucial to reduce air pollution, improve health and wellbeing, and provide affordable energy access especially in the wake of rising energy costs. With the installation, the company’s annual Carbon Dioxide reduction is 627 metric tonnes (MT).

He added the solar transformation at the state-of-the-art warehouse situated in a 4.5-acre land is also in line with the government's expectation of generating 2,000 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy in the next three years. “The government is keen to convert any exposed roof to solar power generating units and is inviting all public and private sector investors to make this whole transformation happen.

The government has also aimed to generate 70 per cent of the electricity from renewable energy in 2030 and 100 per cent by 2050. In line with this we decided to transform our roof into a solar power generator,” the official added.

He pointed out that to meet the country’s climate commitments and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals it is necessary to find sustainable solutions to global issues such as climate change. “This makes financial sense for companies which have large spaces and rooftops and even domestic use as energy costs are substantially cut. Another enticing attraction is that solar power buy- back to the grid which is encouraging more people to install solar systems as an additional revenue system.”

He said the solar installation was done by First Energy which is one of the fastest-growing solar power companies in Sri Lanka incorporated as a subsidiary of Pacific Hydro Electric SL (P) Ltd. “The second phase of the warehouse will see a 75,000 square feet facility and we'll start mid next year. When completed the total warehousing area will be 140,000 square feet,” he added.