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| Case
Studies
Below you will find a selection of case
studies that cover some of the projects in the Thames Valley.
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Case
Study 9: Environment Centre woodfuel boiler, Wycombe |
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Case
Study 10: Shortenills woodfuel boiler, Chalfont St Peter |
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Case
Study 11: Hailey Village Hall solar PV, Oxon |
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Case
Study 12: Leckford Estate SRC/hydro/wind/PV, nr Longstock |
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Case
Study 13: RES Egg Farm solar PV/wind, Kings Langley |
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Case Study 14:
Aylesbury domestic PV and solar thermal, Bucks |
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Case Study
15: Birch Court solar thermal, Oxford |
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Case Study
16: SOHA Compton Close solar thermal, Didcot |
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Case
Study 17: Brill School wind and solar thermal, Brill |
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Case
Study 18: St Peter & Paul Scout Hut wood stove, Godalming
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Case
Study 19: Betchworth Estate hydro, Surrey |
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Case
Study 20: Parsons Green PV, Guildford |
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Case
Study 21: West Dean Estate biomass boiler, Sussex
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Study 22: Elvendon Priory biomass boiler, S. Oxon. |
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Study 23: Queen Elizabeth Country Park biomass boiler, Hants. |
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Case
Study 24: Bedgebury Pinetum biomass boiler, Kent.
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Study 1: Hurley Domestic Solar PV, Berks |
The Hurley domestic PV system is one of the first systems to be
installed in the region with funding from the DTI's PV grant
programme. The homeowner has invested in the system out of his
sense of environmental and social responsibility and out of his
personal and professional interest in the energy industry. This
case study not only describes the system, but also discusses the
experiences of the homeowner as he undertook this process.
For further information, please
follow the link below:
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Study 2: Warden INTEGER solar thermal, Newbury |
The Newbury INTEGER house was constructed to demonstrate
innovative technologies available to house builders and
specifiers and to highlight to the public the hi-tech options
they could expect to see on modern housing. The house was
occupied by housing association tenants for the first few years
to assess its 'liveability', and is now for sale on the open
market.
For further information, please
follow the link below:
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Study 3: Westmill Wind Cluster, Oxon |
Planning permission has been granted for
five Vesta wind turbines for Westmill Farm in Oxfordshire. The move into
green energy is a key part of an overall philosophy of diversification
on the farm which began with a move into organic farming some 8 years
ago. The development has a NFFO 5 (Non Fossil Fuel Obligation) contract
for the output from two turbines - the proposed first phase at the farm
which may well have a large element of community (of interest) ownership
via a possible joint venture with the WIND FUND. The remaining two
turbines hope to include local community owners.
For further information, please follow
the links below:
In early 2003, after an investigation by Surrey Wildlife Trust into the possibilities for sustainable heating and an end use for waste shavings and off-cuts, they installed a 44 kW rated wood-fuelled boiler (see photo) to heat the wood workshop. The South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) provided a grant of around £7,500 to assist with the purchase of the boiler.
The boiler is a Talbott's T1.5 warm air system, made and installed by Talbott's Ltd, the Staffordshire-based wood heating specialists. This system is automatically fed and can take shavings, chips and sawdust for fuel, which are naturally readily available from the workshop floor and the sawmill itself.
The owners are very pleased with the installation's performance and find that the heat output exceeds expectations, especially in winter-time. The average power setting used over the year is 8.5kW, and in a typical year the furnace will consume wood at a rate of
oven-dried tonnes annually.
Norbury park lies within the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and consists of 520 hectares (1,300 acres). It is situated west of the River Mole and the A24 between Westhumble and the borders of Fetcham and Great Bookham.
For further information, please follow
the links below:
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Study 5: The Living Rainforest woodfuel boiler, W Berks |
The Living Rainforest's mission is to
explore the relationship between humanity and the world's rainforests
through education and research. In order to achieve its goals, the
Living Rainforest requires a large amount of heat to replicate the
rainforest environment.
This project aims to replace one of the
existing oil-fired boilers with a small scale wood burning boiler in a
redeveloped building complex. This process will provide a sustainable
energy source for the Living Rainforest and a focus for education.
For further information, please follow
the link below:
The wood burner is a 'Camargue' from Franco-Belge's range of multifuel/logwood products. It is a cast-iron stove with airwash for the front glass, a fixed grate and is a sturdy object, weighing in at 130kg. This equipment has a maximum power output of 10 kW, and apparently retains heat long after the fire dies down.
Logs as long as 16 inches can be used in this burner and Tanner's Hatch is able to use woodland residue from its surroundings to provide free fuel, ensuring that the investment will soon be recouped and savings made on fuel. It burns approximately half a tonne of fuel per year.
Surrey County Council/the REACH scheme donated £2,000 towards the cost of the project and Ecap Ltd of Horsham were employed to supply and install it.
Solar 4 Us' were the installers used to gain the benefits of six 165Wp Isofoton solar photovoltaic panels for Tanner's Hatch. These hi-tech 'PV' panels convert energy from sunlight into electrical energy, likely to save the hostel the cost of around 1,500 units of electricity every year.
Tanner's Hatch Youth Hostel near Dorking in Surrey is a country cottage owned by the National Trust but is operated by the UK Youth Hostel Association (YHA), offering good-value accommodation to walkers and cyclists passing through the Surrey Hills AONB. It is set in the middle of woods owned by the National Trust, next to its Regency property Polesden Lacey.
For further information, please follow
the link below:
Reading International Solidarity Centre
recently won a grant to transform their roof into a educational facility
for sustainability and as part of this project they decided to install a
renewable energy system as a demonstration project.
Equipment was donated from the Caversham
Court centre and a student from Reading University conducted a
feasibility system for using the system to irrigate the roof garden. TV
Energy and Reading Borough Council financed the renewable energy
installation.
For further information please follow the
links below:
The Greenfields Development by Maidenhead
& District Housing Association is part of the INTEGER housing scheme
and had been designed to include a full range of environmental
technologies. Following the first call of the DTI domestic PV systems
field trial, the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead led a bid
that has resulted in the installation of PV on the roofs of the homes.
The scheme gave staff at the council, the
housing association, Bree Day Partnership (architects) and local
contractors first hand experience of working with a major PV supply
company, Solar Century, and has stimulated the potential for other
projects of this kind to happen in the future.
For further info please follow the link
below:
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Study 9: Environment Centre woodfuel boiler, Wycombe |
The Environment Centre on Holywell Mead,
High Wycombe was launched in November 2002. The vision of the
Environment Centre is improved understanding and implementation of
sustainable development in the community, leading to an enhanced quality
of life for this and future generations
For further info please follow the link
below:
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Study 10: Shortenills woodfuel boiler, Chalfont St Peter |
The Shortenills Environmental Education
Centre has provided quality environmental education to the children of
Buckinghamshire for over 50 years. Ever keen to highlight issues of
sustainability, it was decided that some form of solar demonstration
installation was required. The solution was the array above, which
performs the obvious function of shelter, but also help to offset some
of the centre's electrical needs thanks to the embedded photovoltaic
cells.
For further info please follow the link
below:
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Study 11: Hailey Village Hall solar PV, Oxon |
Naps Systems are a major international
PV systems supplier with headquarters in Finland. Aware that the UK
government was planning to significantly increase its support of solar
technologies, they wished to install a viable demonstration of their
product in the UK and to provide training and experience to their own
and partner organisation staff. It was felt that a public building
installation would not only give this demonstration widespread, positive
publicity, but that it would highlight to communities how investigating
renewable energy technologies can have an impact both now and for future
generations of building user.
For further info please follow the link
below:
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Study 12: Leckford Estate SRC/hydro/wind/PV, nr Longstock |
Leckford Estate comprises 4,000 acres in
rural Hampshire. The farming estate is part of Waitrose and supplies its
supermarkets, and also acts as a test bed for new methods, both in
production and in developing the supply chain. Waitrose decided to
integrate wind turbines and solar photovoltaics to cover the entire
lighting and operation power needs of thirteen new automated chicken
sheds in 2001.
A traditional waterwheel, pumping water for use by buildings on the
estate, has been operating for decades on the River Test, which runs
through the estate.
The estate is now looking in more detail at the opportunity to grow
short rotation coppice on an area of farm land for use in the proposed
biomass plant that will form part of the Bracknell town centre
development.
For further information, please follow the link below:
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Study 13: RES Egg Farm solar PV/wind, Kings Langley
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Renewable Energy Systems Ltd (RES) is a member of the Sir Robert McAlpine group of companies, a
British privately owned construction group. RES is one of the UK's leading wind energy companies
and has successfully constructed 13 wind farms in the UK and Ireland and operates and maintains
several others. RES also has a considerable portfolio of wind farm developments overseas.
For further info please follow the link
below:
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Aylesbury domestic PV and solar thermal, Bucks
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A solar PV array & solar thermal system retrofitted onto an urban family home to offset a proportion of the electric bills and to generate hot
water, through a desire to do something positive for the environment.
For further info please follow the link
below:
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| Case Study
15: Birch
Court solar thermal,
Oxford
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Solar thermal system retrofitted onto
sheltered elderly housing block as part of a wider eco-refurbishment
project, with the aim of reducing water heating costs.
For further info please follow the link
below:
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| Case Study
16: SOHA Compton Close solar thermal, Didcot
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Solar thermal system retrofitted onto
sheltered elderly housing block as part of a wider eco-refurbishment
project, with the aim of reducing water heating costs.
For further info please follow the link
below:
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Study 17: Brill School wind and solar thermal, Brill
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Brill is a rural primary school situated in
Buckinghamshire with 170 pupils. It is an award winner for conservation
and green issues and is used as a reference site for local schools up to
a 30m radius. This was a pilot school for a wind turbine project close
to the site of an existing wind mill that is a historical landmark
within the village.
For further info please follow the link
below:
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Study 18: St Peter & Paul Scout Hut wood stove, Godalming
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SS. Peter and Paul Scout Hut is a listed timber-framed building close by the famous Charterhouse School. The hut is home to the SS. Peter & Paul Scout group, who in 2004 decided to scope out new and economical possibilities to heat the place.
Ashvale Ranges were brought in to supply and install an Efel 'Harmony III' wood stove: this now heats the entire main hall of the hut. This product has a rated maximum heat output of 16kW and can be used either to heat a small boiler for central heating (max. output to boiler 3 – 7.5kW) or directly as a space-heating stove, as in the Scout Hut. The stove's features include temperature control set by the user and a side-loading capability in preference to re-fuelling by opening the front door.
The logs used for fuel, which can be up to 22 inches long, are obtained by the scouts from amongst their own woodland management residue. They fill the stove twice a night, three times per week with a dozen or so medium-sized logs every time.
For further info please follow the link
below:
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Study 19: Betchworth Estate hydro, Surrey
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The weir was fitted with two identical hydro turbines by NHT Engineering Ltd, giving a total capacity of 55 kilowatts. Such small hydropower technologies usually allow part of the river to pass through the submerged turbine at speed due to the drop in height at the weir (metres at Betchworth), guiding the water optimally onto the internal rotor blades that are fixed to an electrical generator.
The power thereby generated is fed into the regional electricity network; some of this covers the estate's own power demand, but about 90% is surplus and the purchasing electricity company provides revenue according to this net amount supplied.
First estimates of annual income have been put at £18,000. Due to legislative and technical requirements and delays, the entire project's consultancy fees were around £150,000 before work even started, although this includes the weir restoration and therefore would not be a typical figure for a pure hydropower project.
Betchworth House lies in attached parkland near Dorking in Surrey. On the River Mole which flows through the park there is a late 18th century weir, which in 1999 the estate owner determined to restore.
For further info please follow the link
below:
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Study 20: Parsons Green PV, Guildford
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The 11 homes are partially tiled with photovoltaic 'Terra Piatta' tiles made by manufacturer
Pfleiderer. This is an unobtrusive technology designed to resemble typical flat roof tiles in shape and the way they overlap each other, thus reducing the visual impact on an area (in comparison with solar panels). Planning permission can also usually be more readily obtained or even avoided by use of PV tiles instead of panels in new dwellings and offices. However, conversely the slightly iridescent,
blue-ish gleam of the typical solar-tiled roof sometimes also contributes to an attractive, distinctive look and has been known to affect house prices beneficially, compared to neighbouring homes with conventional roofs.
In keeping with nearly all such installations in the UK, the roof-integrated PV systems at Parsons Green are grid-linked, meaning they are connected to the conventional power network rather than charging batteries. For this reason Solar Energy Installations (now Sustainable Energy Installations), who were the contract installers, were also required to install inverters
(SMA 'Sunny Boy') in order to convert the direct current electricity ('DC', used in battery-run appliances) produced by the PV tiles, to the necessary alternating current ('AC') electricity, as used by household appliances, the National Grid and the regional electricity distribution networks which the PV supplies.
Apex Housing Association created Parsons Green in an urban area of Guildford as a 100% social housing development in 2003. Eleven of the 2-3 bed houses were fitted during construction with integrated solar photovoltaic (PV) roofs.
For further info please follow the link
below:
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Study 21: West Dean Estate biomass boiler, Sussex
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West Dean College, a centre for the study of traditional arts, crafts and music, is based in a large country house set in the 6,000
acre West Dean Estate. It lies six miles north of Chichester on the western dip slope of the South Downs. The entirety is owned
by the Edward James Foundation, a charitable educational trust. Besides the educational activities of the College, the Estate
includes farming, forestry and property management. The house and its five annex buildings are home to 140 students and a place
of work for over 70 staff.
The house and its hot water supply were previously heated by converted coke-fired boilers running on oil (at less than 45%
efficiency) and electric storage heaters (typically inefficient). Other factors of the time were that the site was off the gas
network; coal's associated problems with health and security of supply; prices of heating oil were high and supply unreliable, and straw fuel
entailed problems with vast storage in an aesthetically sensitive area.
The study confirmed that the required annual yield of about 1,000 tonnes wood fuel could be sustained: the estate has 1,900 acres
of beech woodland mixed with conifers. Conservation and biodiversity were a high priority for the organisation, while demand for
timber was fairly variant and unpredictable due to dependence on other sectors.
Other reasons were the renewable and low-carbon nature of bioenergy; the low pollution from a clean and safe fuel; the
woodland management benefits - wood fuel supplies at West Dean are generally derived from coppicing and thinning,
promoting biodiversity; benefits to the local economy as opposed to remote multinationals.
For further info please follow the link
below:
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Study 22: Elvendon Priory biomass boiler, S. Oxon.
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Elvendon Priory, part of the now diversified Elvendon Estate, is situated near Goring-on-Thames, within the Chiltern Hills of rural south Oxfordshire. The privately-owned commercial estate comprises 304 hectares of managed woodland, farming and residential properties. Elvendon Priory, around which the rest of the estate is centred, is a historic 11th century listed building. It was acquired by the current owners in 1997 and is now a family home.
Under its new ownership the estate implemented a two-year multi-million-pound programme to modernise and refurbish all principle buildings and infrastructures. This included extensive structural alterations, building extensions and renovation of the Priory as a modern domestic residence.
The programme also saw the replacement of the existing gas and oil-fired boilers, which were expensive and inefficient. They were replaced with a state-of-the-art biomass-fuelled boiler and district heating system, designed to serve the whole complex. The boiler was designed, engineered and installed by Talbott's Ltd, one of the leading British biomass thermal systems companies.
For further info please follow the link
below:
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Study 23: Queen Elizabeth Country Park biomass boiler, Hants.
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Queen Elizabeth Country Park (QECP), run by Hampshire County Council in conjunction with Forest Enterprise, comprises 570 hectares of woodland and downland set in a wider landholding of 850 hectares, all inside the East Hampshire Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The park accommodates walkers, cyclists & horse riders and includes Butser Hill National Nature Reserve (above) and a main Visitor Centre near Horndean, owned and managed by Hants CC in 40-yr partnership with the Forestry Commission. Being aware of the environmental impact of its operations and its visitors, QECP has introduced carbonemission reduction measures, waste management and conservation of biodiversity; the programme includes low-energy lighting, energy conservation promotion.
In 2004 a major feasibility study to assess a broad range of renewable energy options for the Visitor Centre was initiated, funded by the Government Office for the South East and the local AONB, and carried out by a working group (including Wood Energy Ltd). It focused on wood fuel as the chief recommendation, most of the Park being beech woodland.
The study initially considered a proposal for a wood-fired combined heat and power system to supply heat and electricity to the site, exporting any excess to the local grid. Due to CHP economics at this scale, this was rapidly dropped in favour of focusing on the heat-only wood chip system that was finally recommended. Some neighbouring farmers were also surveyed to see if a farmbased district storage/supply was a possibility, and it was thought this would first require greater local demand. The exercise was completed around May 2004.
A year of fundraising followed, including two unsuccessful Clear Skies grant bids. All the funding was in place by the end of 2005,having been awarded by EDF Green Fund, DTI New Opportunities (Bioenergy Capital) Fund, DTI Clear Skies, the Forestry Commission, East Hants AONB Sustainable Development Fund, Hampshire CC, SEEDA, and the Natural Light Partnership. Planning consent was applied for an extension to the visitors' centre, which was built in 1976, to incorporate biomass boiler, was granted in December 2005. At this point detailed study on design, fuel supply and operational issues has been commenced by Hampshire CC's head heating engineer, with a view to going to tender for supply, installation and commissioning in March 2006. The successful bidder will be expected to commission the project by July 2006.
For further info please follow the link
below:
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Study 24: Bedgebury Pinetum biomass boiler, Kent
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Bedgebury is situated in the Kent countryside near Tunbridge Wells, and is owned and run by the Forestry Commission. The National Pinetum at Bedgebury is one of the county's leading visitor attractions and has the finest collection of conifers in the world. The 850 hectares of timber-producing Bedgebury Forest in which it resides is set to become one of the UK's largest, multiactivity outdoor sport and healthy living sites. New activities will include all-ability cycling, mountain biking, play equipment, horse riding and orienteering.
In a major development project supported by Sport England (£1m) and the Forestry Commission, the site is intended become an environmental showcase, and its completion is scheduled for around Spring 2006. Accompanying the extension of the collection to 100% of the world's temperate conifers will be a new visitor and education centre.
One of the project's objectives is to educate people as to the importance of environmental and conservation measures generally and the significant role that conifers play in the protection of humanity and the natural world. For this reason the new visitor centre will incorporate sustainable design principles, energy efficiency, and renewables in the form of a wood chip boiler.
The heating system and boiler was installed in December 2005, and will be fully commissioned by mid-January in time to be operational for the full opening of the visitor centre in Spring 2006.
For further info please follow the link
below:
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