Ricoh UK Products Ltd Choose SolarEdge for Energy Optimisation
Background
In March 2024, Ricoh UK Products Ltd (RPL) approached SolarEdge seeking greater visibility of energy data to support their net-zero ambitions. Since 2002, RPL has invested in over 250 CO₂ emissionreduction activities at its 52-acre Telford site, including a 1.6MW solar PV system that provides 18% of site electricity, enabling periods of 100% self-sufficiency and offsetting over 292 tonnes of CO₂ annually.
Sustainability is deeply embedded in Ricoh’s culture — in 2025 the company received a Platinum rating from EcoVadis, and was named in the 2026 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations by Corporate Knights.
Having already achieved an 80% CO₂ reduction and £500k+ in annual energy savings, RPL needed granular energy data to address the remaining 20%.…
Andy Smith
/ Engineering SpecialistChallenges
As part of RPL’s net-zero 2030 ambition, energy monitoring and management software would be critical to identifying inefficiencies, implementing changes, and measuring results against a 2.5% year-on-year energy reduction target.
A key example was weekend energy expenditure. RPL knew consumption continued outside production hours but lacked the data to pinpoint where - at the time, this accounted for approximately £45k per year. Without granular insight, it was impossible to act with precision.
Transparency was equally important. Ricoh wanted to go beyond simply reporting carbon offsets and instead demonstrate how that carbon reduction was being achieved - giving stakeholders clear, evidence based reporting on energy projects and their outcomes.
A further challenge stemmed from the complexity of the Telford site itself. Operating across three buildings housing multiple Ricoh businesses, each supplied by PV with different load profiles throughout the day, RPL needed to understand consumption at a building level - not just site-wide. This was important both operationally and for accurate inter-company billing: knowing exactly what each building and business was consuming, and being able to allocate costs accordingly.
Taken together, these challenges pointed to a single need: a unified, real-time energy management platform capable of delivering the visibility, control, and reporting that RPL’s next phase of sustainability required.
The Solution
SolarEdge ONE for C&I was deployed at RPL’s Telford facility, integrating data from two solar PV arrays - a ground-mounted system and a carport array - alongside gas, water, and electricity meters, and the site’s EV charging infrastructure. This gave Ricoh a single, real-time view of all core energy streams.
The platform’s alarm and alerting functions support ongoing operations and maintenance, enabling the team to catch issues - such as air compressor failures - early, with clear data trails as evidence. The dedicated PV Systems feature allows analysis of solar performance ratios and panel condition, informing maintenance scheduling. Energy profile visibility also feeds into production planning and equipment performance studies, such as comparing air handling unit efficiency before and after configuration changes.
The results were swift and measurable. RPL identified labs being heated unnecessarily at weekends and adjusted scheduling - saving £4,000. Optimising chiller equipment for a RICOH Pro VC80000 Print Engine delivered a further £10,000 saving, equivalent to 6.6 tonnes of CO₂ per year, with no extensive engineering measurements required.
Looking ahead, RPL plans to expand the platform with live Power BI dashboards pulling data via API, enabling granular energy cost reporting per product and per business - taking their sustainability programme to a new level of precision.