Oxford Bus Company has produced one million kilowatt hours of green electricity from solar panel arrays at its depots.
The bus company, which also runs Thames Travel, is celebrating after reaching the sustainability milestone last month.
The solar installations surpassed 1,000,000 kwh - or 1 gigawatt - of electricity generated since they installed in 2013.
The green energy generated is enough to power around 345 homes for a year, or to boil 11 million kettles.
Subsidiaries of the Go-Ahead Group, Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel have a long-standing partnership with the Oxfordshire Social Enterprise Low Carbon Hub.
Read again: New ultra-low emission buses for Oxford
In 2013 Oxford Bus Company became the first local business to partner with them to install solar panels onto the depot site in Cowley.
In 2019 the partnership was extended further, with solar panels installed on Thames Travel's depot in Didcot.
The solar panels help power the two depots but have also generated wider benefit for the local community, as the surpluses generated are used by the Low Carbon Hub to fund community energy projects.
Luke Marion, finance and commercial Director at Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel, said: “We're really proud of this significant sustainability milestone in our group of companies' continued journey to become as low carbon as possible.
"Our partnership with the Low Carbon Hub is based on shared sustainability and community values and has gone from strength to strength."
Read more: Search for new company to run abandoned Grapes
Barbara Hammond, CEO of Low Carbon Hub, said: "This is a fantastic milestone for clean energy generation in Oxfordshire. Nine years ago we worked with Oxford Bus Company to install our first rooftop solar array, and now we have 47 renewable energy projects active across Oxfordshire."
More than two-thirds of the Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel fleet of vehicles meets Euro VI emissions standards, helping to improve air quality in Oxfordshire.
In 2020 Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel collectively invested £1.2m in nine new ultra-low emission vehicles.
City Sightseeing Oxford, owned by Oxford Bus Company, introduced the first electric bus to Oxford in 2020 and has since introduced two more to its fleet.
Oxford Bus Company has also submitted a joint bid with Oxfordshire County Council and Stagecoach for £32.8m from the government's Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas scheme.
Read more: Where your bike is most likely to be stolen
Go-Ahead and Stagecoach have committed to invest £43.7m and Oxfordshire County Council £6m, in a package worth £82.5m that if successful could deliver up to 159 electric buses for the city, and the associated infrastructure to charge them.
One bus can carry around 70 car drivers and the average large family car is 4.8 metres long, meaning one bus could potentially save 300 metres of traffic queues.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok
Got a story for us? Send us your news and pictures here
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel