Renewable energy PV gives historic building power to generate its own income O


ne of the UK’s largest installations of photovoltaic cells on a historic building has been fitted to the


roof of the National Trust's carriagemuse- um at Arlington Court near Barnstaple in Devon. The installation covers an area of 110 m2 and is the second largest installa- tion of PV on Natural Trust Buildings; the first being the Trust’s central office, Heelis, in Swindon – a 1,300 m2 installa- tion. The 9 kW Arlington Court installation


will generate up to 6.3 MWh of energy each year. Most of the electricity generat- ed is planned to be used on site, offset- ting about £600 worth of grid electricity, and the Feed-in Tariff income generated will amount to around £2,300 per year. The installation will also help to protect


the historic carriages in themuseum, with the cells helping to reduce the amount of ultraviolet light that enters the building. The project has been funded by sales of


National Trust Green Energy which is sup- plied by the charity’s energy partner, npower, and raises money to support low


PV cells on the Arlington Court museum’s roof


and zero carbon energy savings projects at Trust properties. The installation work was carried out by Solar Technologies. So far, 25 National Trust properties have


received renewable technology support- ed by the partnership with npower, with solar panels, biomass boilers and ground source heat pumps installed. The Trust is working towards a commitment to cut its overall energy demand by 20% by 2020


Know how complex your wind site is? I


nternational renewable energy consultan- cy Natural Power has announced a new free-of-charge web-based service that


provides an estimation of wind flow com- plexity on potential wind farm sites. Potential wind development sites with


simple, flat terrain are becoming fewer and fewer, and more and more projects are built in, or near, forests and complex terrain, says Natural Power. It is these complex flow sites that are often associated with harsh wind conditions that are likely to affect wind tur- bine performance. Complex terrain can potentially induce large levels of turbulence and high loads on wind turbine blades. As a result, according to Natural Power,


there are increasing concerns about under- performing wind farms – maintenance costs


can be higher than expected, performance is reduced, and warranty claims are more com- mon. In an aim to combat this, the company has


developed a complexity assessment applet that is freely available on the Natural Power website. In order to provide an estimation of flow complexity, the applet requires turbine locations, which can be uploaded as Google Earth place marks, and a simplistic estima- tion of forest coverage in the area of inter- est. The applet then automatically computes a complexity index, taking into account topographic features and approximate land cover. The results can be visualised in a report that also summarises findings, recom- mendations and next steps for develop- ment.


Glastonbury switches on the solar A


200 kW solar PV installation has been installed at Worthy Farm, Somerset, home of the


Glastonbury music festival. PV installer Solarsense joined Michael


Eavis, founder of the Glastonbury Festival, for the unveiling of the installa- tion. Solarsense managed the installation from the initial planning phase through to the commissioning, installing over 1,100 PV panels on the famous Worthy Farm ‘Mootel’ – home to the farm’s cows while the music festival takes place. The panels have a combined weight of 22.5 tonnes, span an area of 1,500m2 and are connected by over 6 km of cables. Michael Eavis laid on music, refresh-


22


ments and a stairwell to allow guests to visit the Mootel roof and see the panels in place at the project’s official switch-on ceremony. ‘Worthy Farm is a landmark installation


for the UK,’ said Kerry Burns, General Manager at Solarsense. ‘Last year many farmers saw a 7% drop in income as com- modity prices fell. But by installing PV onto the roof of outbuildings and barns, farmers can treat solar like another crop – but without all the hard work. Worthy Farm is a great example of what the future holds for the farming community.’ The £550,000 project is estimated to


generate a guaranteed annual income of around £60,000 for the next 25 years,


Oisin Brady, the Director of Natural Power


France, said: ‘Our new complex site applet should help minimise the risk of underper- forming wind farms by providing owners, investors and wind specialists with an easily accessible estimation of the risk at the early stages of a project, and thereby informing about the need for tools and methodologies appropriate for the site conditions. Our team can then suggest the best possible options for development of the site – from further CFD calculations which we perform with VENTOS, or a prescribed wind meas- urement campaign with traditional tech- niques such as met masts or more advanced assessment tools.’


 www.naturalpower.com


and to switch to renewable energy. The National Trust has been working in


partnership with npower since 2007 on the National Trust Green Energy product – electricity that is matched from 100% renewable sources, costing the same as npower’s standard electricity.





www.npower.com www.nationaltrust.org.uk


The sun sets on the roof of the ‘Mootel’


providing a 12% return on investment, as well as saving Worthy Farm 80% of its energy use.


 www.solarsense-uk.com Energy World April 2011


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