Holden Group has invested more than £500,000 in solar panels to power its car dealerships in Norwich.

With 992 panels installed on the roof of Holden Volvo, Kia, Renault, Dacia, Honda and MG, Holden Group expects the energy produced to offset almost two-thirds of its annual consumption and to pay for itself in just 3.6 years.

Adrian Guest, group project manager for Holden Group, said: “This is a significant investment for the business and demonstrates our commitment to sustainable energy use.

“All of the brands that we represent are heavily invested in EV technology and cutting carbon is important to us and to our customers.

“We also want to ensure we are investing in our facilities to match the expectations of our franchise partners, colleagues and customers.”

Recent figures from the SMMT showed that across the UK, pure electric cars were second most popular behind petrol cars, with a market share of more than one in six (16.9%).

“Since the installation completed, we’ve already saved the equivalent amount of carbon as planting 634 trees and we expect to make 1,205 Metric Tonnes of carbon savings over the next 25 years,” added Guest.

The 421kwp Solar Panels System was installed by Bury St Edmunds-based SaveMoneyCutCarbon.

Charlie Farr, co-founder of SaveMoneyCutCarbon, said: “We installed a large photovoltaic project delivered over four weeks, across two sites and seven roofs and we look forward to working with them on their future renewable energy needs as well as advising them on all their future requirements for energy efficiency and sustainability in the workplace.”