At the end of March 2022, the FX Sanmartí factory started operating with electricity produced by photovoltaic panels installed on its roof. With this important investment FX Sanmartí manages to be energetically self-sufficient and thus collaborate in a significant way in the reduction of the emission of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
The building housing the FX Sanmartí cardboard box factory has an enormous roof, like most factories, which until now was unused. In early 2022, company management made a strategic decision: the roof should be used to produce solar energy and thus significantly reduce the electricity bill—which had been rising relentlessly for months—while taking another step towards making the factory a completely clean, sustainable operation.
Manel Castaño, from Jucato, was commissioned to install the solar panels. Castaño is certainly excited about his work, at least as he shows us when we talk to him, and while he shows us the roof.
“We have installed 182 panels of 550 watts each, adding up to a total installed capacity of 100 kW,” he tells us. “We believe this will be enough to produce 100% of the energy consumed by the factory.” Enough, and probably more. To achieve this, they have installed a bidirectional meter that measures the grid electricity consumed by the factory and the surplus electricity they generate and feed into the grid. With this compensation system, they are convinced that at the end of the year, electricity costs could be €0 or even negative. Bear in mind that when the factory is closed (at midday, at weekends, during holidays…) and consumes no energy, all the panels' production is fed into the grid.
“For this installation, we were seeking performance throughout the day, from sunrise to sunset, rather than maximum output at a particular moment,” explains Castaño. He adds: “To achieve this, we installed east-facing panels that start working at full capacity at dawn, others facing west that reach peak production at sunset, and others facing south. Some of these are installed at a 15º angle to make the most of the high summer sun, and others at 40º to make the most of the lower winter sun.”
The entire system is controlled through a website or an app installed on a mobile phone. This makes it possible to know how much energy the panels are producing at any time. “At certain moments,” Castaño says proudly, “they have produced more than the installed 100 kW.” The app also alerts us instantly if a fault occurs, although, as Castaño says, “faults are very rare in this type of installation, and maintenance is almost zero. You only have to clean the panels periodically.”
At FX Santmartí we are very proud to have taken this step that allows us to continue offering our cardboard products with the most competitive prices. An innovation that undoubtedly favors our offer and helps to improve the health of the planet.
