Project lead: Abernethy Trust
Infrastructure and Innovation Fund award amount: £78,006.11
Status: Completed February 2015
Area: Highland
Background
The Abernethy Trust was established in 1971 and runs residential outdoor centres in Scotland. At their Ardgour Centre (now Kilmalieu) they were successful in developing an 89kW run of river hydro scheme. This project has grid connection, and at the time of the funding application 10% of generation was used at the centre and 90% exported to the grid.
Project aims and objectives
The Abernethy Trust wanted to use as much of this locally generated electricity on site for space and hot water heating; this would reduce their oil and grid electricity usage.
The project comprised:
- the alteration of the space and hot water heating system at the centre
- the design, purchase and installation of a bespoke thermal store with immersion heaters (estimated 2000 litre tank) and their integration with additional 420 litre DHW storage
- connection and integration of EMMA controls.
Outcomes and achievements
As a result, this project allows the centre to benefit from the hydroelectricity and use a thermal store. If there is no demand, then electricity is sent to the grid. This means the centre has benefited from using less oil and electricity from the grid by using locally generated power, and generated an income from selling electricity back to the grid.