One of the South West's greenest companies has won the 2012 region's Green Energy Installer of the Year Award.
North Somerset-based Solarsense beat stiff competition to take the top award at a ceremony last night (20 Nov) hosted by the renewable energy agency Regen SW.
As well as installing more solar photovoltaic and solar thermal systems than any other comparable company, Solarsense has carried out many initiatives to make its headquarters near Backwell zero-carbon. This summer it opened a solar carport, providing the Bristol area with its first free community charging station for electric cars.
Director Steve Barrett said: "We are thrilled to have won the Green Energy Installer of the Year award in recognition of our fantastic achievement over the last 18 years and look forward to even more success."
The award judges said they chose Solarsense because it was the most experienced company with a strong commitment to the community and innovative plans.
On top of fitting thousands of solar photovoltaic and solar thermal systems on homes, the company has also installed large systems on dozens of Bristol schools, Bristol Zoo, the At-Bristol science discovery centre and Worthy Farm, home of the Glastonbury Festival.
Later this month business and homeowners will get the chance to find out about the benefits of clean energy with a series of open days at Solarsense's Zero Carbon Technology Park at Brockley Lane near Backwell.
The company is holding open days on Friday 30 November and Saturday 1 December following the success of its summer open day, when the new mayor of Bristol, George Ferguson joined Glastonbury festival founder Michael Eavis in unveiling its new community solar carport for charging electric vehicles.
As well as seeing solar energy and other green technology in action, visitors will be able to test drive electric vehicles.
On display will be the renewable energy systems that have enabled the Solarsense to become zero carbon. It meets all its electricity and heating needs by using solar photovoltaic and thermal panels, a biomass boiler and heat pumps. The commercial open day on 30 November runs from 8am to 1pm and the general open day is from 9.30am to 3pm the following day.
