Illustrative industrial-rooftop photo: Giant Asparagus / Pexels (free-use licence). Not a Refresco facility. Photo source ↗ · Licence ↗
01Industry & clean power
A drinks maker is turning its factory roofs into a 21.5 MW solar portfolio.
Refresco has begun a 21.5 MWp rooftop-solar programme across four UK drinks-manufacturing sites. At Bridgwater, the planned 8.5 MWp system would use more than 18,000 modules and, according to delivery partner GB NRG, generate around 7.5 GWh a year—roughly 17% of that site's annual electricity demand. Installation at Bridgwater is underway, but those generation figures are forecasts, not metered output. Zestec will finance and manage the equipment through long-term power-purchase agreements backed by Octopus Energy Generation-managed funds. This model matters for manufacturers because it could add on-site electricity without requiring them to own every panel, while making the power price more predictable. The difficult part is construction on a factory operating around the clock: roof integrity, safety, production continuity and actual solar yield will decide whether the commercial case holds. GB NRG describes the Bridgwater array as potentially the UK's largest on a single continuous roof; that comparison remains a forward-looking company claim. The photograph shows an unidentified industrial rooftop, not Refresco's project.
