Covering an area of 33,000 square metres, the 4,348-panel farm can generate up to 3.0 MW of power in total, equal to more than three football pitches and enough to power 750 homes per year. The solar farm will provide self-generated electrical energy for all SLG companies, including Bridge of Weir Leather and Muirhead, helping to reduce their environmental impact.
Bridge of Weir Leather is a leading supplier of high-performance leather to the global automotive industry with a rich heritage in leather manufacturing.
Muirhead, founded in 1840, marks its 185th anniversary in 2025 and has since built a reputation for quality, durability, and sustainability. It is continually refining its manufacturing processes and investing in innovative solutions to reduce its carbon footprint.
Located south of SLG’s Thermal Energy Plant (TEP), the new solar PV array marks another step forward in the group's power strategy, moving the business towards manufacturing of leather that is set to be net zero (Scope 1 and 2) by the end of 2025, achieving a target originally set in 2018 – and some twenty years ahead of Scotland’s net-zero ambitions.
“Over the last two decades, Scottish Leather Group has continuously invested in strategic initiatives designed to optimise and improve the sustainability and circularity of our leather production” said Dr Warren Bowden, Head of Innovation and Sustainability at Scottish Leather Group. “With our new Solar PV array, we are taking a step forward in the self-generation of on-site clean power, removing grid reliance, which further supports us as we rapidly accelerate towards achieving our target of 100 percent zero greenhouse gas emissions for our operations.”
SLG produces the world’s lowest carbon intensity leather and continues to have the industry's lowest Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) impact, with an independently verified carbon footprint of just 8kg CO2e/m2 on average, helping its customers, from the automotive industry to aviation and other passenger transport sectors reduce their carbon impact on the planet without offsetting.
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