Major UK distributor goes green with 1,000-plus solar panel installation

UK distributor Madison has made a significant step towards reducing its carbon footprint with the installation of more than 1,000 solar panels on the roofs of its warehouses at Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.

Work began on the £350,000 project last year and it has only just been completed. The company hopes to recoup the cost within four or five years, depending on market conditions, it told Cycling Weekly.

Madison CEO Dominic Langan said the panels were just part of the "huge task" that lay ahead of the company to reduce its carbon emissions.

Energy supplied by the panels is set to total more than 480,000kWh, with around half of that retained for use within its facilities, but will also be fed back into the National Grid.

Madison also issued detailed look at the energy the new solar panels would provide, and save:
- It is a 500.5 kWP rooftop solar photovoltaic installation
- 1001 x 500w modules
- Generating 480,443kWh per year in total
- 235,775 KWh per year used on site and rest fed back into the grid
- Carbon saving: 86 tonnes per year

“We are committed to the sustainability of our business and minimising our negative impact on the environment but acknowledge there is a huge task ahead of us," Langan said.

"Part of this journey is reducing our dependence on carbon-intensive energy within our business operations and making the investments necessary to deliver efficiency, value and health for our business.”

The solar panels are not the first carbon-cutting strategy to be implemented at Madison, with its Madison Clothing and Aztec brands also switching to sustainably sourced packaging, and more planned for the future.

Madison, which started as a small bike shop in West Hampstead, London in 1977, is now one of the UK's biggest cycle distributors, stocking brands including Shimano, DT Swiss and Vittoria.

The company has also been a sizeable player on the domestic racing scene, with, sponsoring a number of teams including the successful Madison-Genesis outfit. It was a UCI Continental-ranked team from 2013 until it folded at the end of the 2019 season, and featured some great riders who would go on to join the upper ranks, including Connor Swift (who went to Ineos Grenadiers), Matt Holmes (who went to Lotto-Soudal) and Jon Dibben (who went to Team Sky).