A huge thank you to TransDev for choosing DES Renewables. We have just completed installing commercial solar PV across three roofs at their Dawkins Road site in Hamworthy, Poole, and we are proud to have been trusted with it.
Who are TransDev?
Transmission Developments Co (GB) Ltd has been manufacturing in Poole since 1965. A family-run business organised into four divisions (distribution, special belts, manufacturing and plastics), TransDev is the UK’s largest manufacturer of timing pulleys and one of the biggest names in power transmission, conveying and motion products in the country. They hold more than £5 million of stock, ship worldwide, and their Poole machine shop runs three shifts a day.
That last point matters. A factory that machines around the clock has a daytime electrical load that solar is made for. Every kilowatt-hour the roof produces is one that TransDev is no longer buying from the grid.
What we installed
The site is three separate units, each with its own supply, so the project was designed and connected as three systems:
- 344 Aiko 660W solar panels across the three roofs, around 230kWp in total
- Solis commercial inverters: 80kW, 80kW and 40kW, one per unit
- Three G99 grid connections agreed with SSE, the local network operator
Our surveyor measured the roofs in June, the DNO applications went in the same month, and our roofing and electrical teams delivered the install over three weeks in October 2026. The scaffold is coming down this week.
Why a manufacturer is a good fit for solar
Commercial solar works best where the building uses power while the sun is up. Offices, warehouses and factories with daytime shifts all qualify, but a machine shop running CNC and manual lathes, cutting gears and sprockets through the working day, is close to ideal. The electricity is used on site as it is generated, which is where the value is.
If you run a manufacturing or industrial site in Dorset, Hampshire or Wiltshire and want to know what your roof could do, our commercial solar team will survey it free of charge and design a system around your actual consumption. We also offer funded options for businesses that would rather not use capital.
The full case study
A big well done to the roofing and electrical teams who delivered this, and thank you to Chris and the TransDev team for being brilliant to work with throughout.
Want the detail? Read the full TransDev case study: how the three systems were sized, the grid connection, the timeline and the design estimates. We will add monitored generation figures once the systems have a full year behind them.
Thinking about solar for your business? See our commercial case studies, read about commercial solar across Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire, or get in touch for a free site survey.