TOD’S rooftop solar installations at its Headquarters and manufacturing facility in the Marche region resulted in carbon emission reduction of ~126 tCO₂, from April to December 2023
SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (“SolarEdge”) (NASDAQ: SEDG), a global leader in smart energy technology, announced today that Italian luxury fashion house, TOD’S has expanded its deployment of solar energy with SolarEdge rooftop installations on its Headquarters and its manufacturing facility in the Marche region, Italy, totaling 740 kWp.
By leveraging solar energy for self-consumption, the rooftop solar installations at TOD’S headquarters and manufacturing facility are powering approximately 78% of daily energy use, resulting in carbon emission reductions of ~126 tCO₂ (calculated with the “location-based method”) from April to December 2023.
These installations represent part of the renowned Italian luxury house’s mission for corporate sustainability, building on the success of TOD’S first SolarEdge rooftop solar installation back in 2017 on a production facility in Arquata del Tronto, which was used to aid economic recovery following a powerful earthquake in the region. The company also recently initiated a new solar installation at its Montecosaro site producing a further 106 kWp of solar energy.
Simona Cattaneo, General Manager at TOD’S Group, said: “TOD’S expansion of rooftop solar underlines our commitment to corporate sustainability and is part of our decarbonization journey to reduce our carbon footprint and promote the clean energy transition. By producing and consuming renewable solar energy, we are reducing our dependency on fossil fuels and mitigating the business impact of fluctuating electricity prices, while making the best use of our buildings to produce the levels of energy we need.”
Maximizing solar power production with innovative technology
Briefed by TOD’S to generate as much energy as possible from the available roof space at the Headquarters, Italian renewable energy installer SARI 2030-EDILENERGIA decided to go beyond a conventional solar system and installed Power Optimizers. These are small devices which sit behind individual solar panels to maximize energy production, and crucially, should an individual panel’s performance be affected by shading or soiling, they restrict any power loss solely to that panel. This innovation overcomes the limitations of traditional string solar systems, where the lowest performing panel will bring down the entire string of panels to its performance level. For commercial businesses such as TOD’S, ensuring energy generation from solar is optimized in all conditions is critical to delivering maximum energy bill savings.
Another key requirement from TOD’S was ensuring that the safety of buildings and workers was not compromised by installing solar. This is one of the other areas of innovation with Power Optimizers, offering advanced safety capabilities to help businesses mitigate risk. With the ability to monitor individual solar panels remotely for performance and faults, specific panel issues can be pinpointed quickly for more effective maintenance. Should there be an issue, the voltage of the solar system can be reduced to touch-safe levels in just minutes to enable safe roof repairs, and access by firefighters in the rare event of a fire.
Gabriele Frontoni, CEO at SARI 2030, commented: “As a brand synonymous with craftsmanship and high quality, TOD’S knows the importance of delivering shared value over the long term TOD’S has been focusing on sustainability for many years now, with several investments made to generate renewable electricity and improve the efficiency of its production lines. Working with TOD’S is challenging yet inspiring, as they require top efficiency, performance and safety to enable them to achieve each project’s objectives.” As such, when we built TOD’S first solar plant in Arquata del Tronto, we recommended SolarEdge’s technology to meet its demand for maximum energy generation, real-time panel-level monitoring and the highest safety standards as a non-negotiable. The technology has excelled on all fronts for several years now, so when it came to designing the recent solar installation at its headquarters and manufacturing facility, TOD’S told us ‘it has to be SolarEdge and they are not the first commercial business to demand this from us.”
Christian Carraro, Europe General Manager at SolarEdge: TOD’s ambitious solar expansion reflects the growing influence corporate sustainability and ESG is having on solar adoption. Companies also need a strong business case to underpin these ESG initiatives and this is where SolarEdge technology excels - producing more power for faster ROI, with an enhanced safety offering. This is why SolarEdge technology is on the rooftops of over 50% of Fortune 100 companies.”