Ryan's SuperValu group Cork goes green in energy switch

RYAN’S SuperValu Group in Cork has joined forces with Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) to change the way it powers its stores.

Demonstrating its commitment to energy reduction, the group used the SEAI grant in its stores in Glanmire and The Lough to update its refrigeration in The Lough and install solar energy panels in Glanmire, the combined results of which is the energy equivalent of powering 64 Irish houses per year.

These new energy-efficient upgrades, combined with previous works in-store, amount to over 270 KWH of energy per year, a 48% overall carbon reduction for SuperValu The Lough, and 34% for SuperValu Glanmire.

Operations director for Ryan’s SuperValu, Jason O’Callaghan, said: “We pride ourselves on setting a good example for our community, and we hope we have achieved this by committing to sustainability in our store.

“Having previously worked with SEAI in our stores, we were delighted to continue our work as part of the ‘Building Sustainable Communities’ initiative, this year at The Lough and Glanmire.

“We have had a complete upgrade of our refrigeration systems and the installation of solar panels, and we have made enormous energy savings as a result.”

The two Ryan’s SuperValu stores are two of 25 stores nationwide, eight of which are across Cork, that took part in the Building Sustainable Communities initiative this year.

The total energy savings has totalled some 3.7m KWH, enough to power 880 Irish homes, including 805,338 KWH alone from the Cork-based stores.

For the first time, this year’s initiative also sees a contribution made to not-for-profit affordable housing charity Clúid Housing, supporting 40 Dublin-based Clúid houses to raise their BER (Building Energy Certificate) rating from D2 to B2.

Community energy grants programme executive at SEAI, Tanya Osborne, said that SEAI’s mission is to highlight the importance of sustainable energy.

“We are very grateful to Ryan’s SuperValu for collaborating with us once again,” she said.