TGE Group, one of the UK’s suppliers of renewable energy, has completed a project to provide a bulb and flower businesses in Lincolnshire with nearly 5,000MW hours of power. The energy generated will be used to heat and power multiple buildings on the farm.
The landlords of the busy site at Nocton Nurseries, comprising four blocks of staff accommodation, an estate office, a gym and over five acres of glass houses, approached TGE Group looking for an affordable way to provide heat and power to the site.
On the back of an extensive site survey, TGE Group designed a three phase programme of works to install 600kWp of solar PV and two district heating biomass boiler systems of over 1MW to satisfy the requirements.
In the first phase, a series of solar PV rooftop systems were installed on selected buildings including four residential blocks, the gymnasium providing a total of 475kWh of energy on site.
The second phase involved the design and installation of two biomass district heating systems, one of which is capable of burning a variety of fuels, including plant waste from the nursery, to supply heat to the estate office, gym (including swimming pool) and over five acres of greenhouses as well as a neighbouring building.
To ensure the scheme works at full capacity, remote monitoring controls were installed for both technologies, with a full maintenance and servicing cover for the biomass system to give Nocton Nurseries access to 24/7 customer care as well as an online portal where the system’s output statistics can be viewed.
Steff Munks of Munks Agricultural Contractors, who are landlords on the site, commented: “The site has a huge energy requirement so we were keen to reduce costs where possible. Having audited the options available to us, TGE Group provided a scheme that would deliver sustainable heat and power for the tenants on site and generate extra revenue which will pay back the capital outlay within to benefit both us as the landlords as well as our tenants at the nursery. We’re delighted with the results and it’s very satisfying to know that we are generating our own heat and power for the site. We’re also extremely proud to be doing our bit for the environment by saving 243 tonnes of carbon per year.”
Matthew Evans, heat director, at TGE Group commented: “Although split over several sites, the project was perfectly suited to renewable technologies. The bespoke multi-technology system installed will significantly reduce fuel bills whilst generating extra revenue through both the Feed in Tariff and Renewable Heat Incentive. The monitoring systems in place will also ensure the installation is protected and working at peak performance for the duration of its life.”
