Ice cream maker Mackie’s of Scotland saw its solar facility, based on site at its Aberdeenshire family farm, set a new record this April, producing more green energy than in any month in 2019.
The company benefitted from unseasonably sunny weather. March was sunny and May followed with more heat to make the total production this spring the highest on record since installation in 2016.
The solar farm, a 10-acre 1.8MW site, produced 640MWh electricity in total across the three months.
The 10-acre 1.8MW site helps with power for Mackie’s to produce its ice cream and chocolate, and complements its four wind turbines, which total 3MW, ensuring the business is 80% powered by its own green generation.
With initiatives like the on-site production of a vast majority of its packaging, Mackie’s says its is already a carbon positive company and aims to become 100% self-sufficient in renewable energy this year.
A £4.5 million investment in eco-freezers powered with ammonia plant and biomass, is set to be one of Europe’s greenest and most innovative refrigeration systems and is set to be online by the end of the year.
Mac Mackie, Managing Director and one of three sibling owners, said: “It’s nice to be able to talk positively about the weather in Scotland for a change! April really was out the ordinary and the solar farm’s spike in energy production shows the extent of that.
Mac added: “The new freezer will make a tremendous difference to our energy requirements, the efficiency of the new system means that we should cut our energy use by up to 80%.
“It’s an exciting development in other ways too – the new refrigeration system along new ice cream filling equipment will increase our production capacity and enable us to look at making new types of ice cream.”