The National Trust has completed over 130 renewable energy projects at a cost of £35 million to help reduce the charity’s reliance on fossil fuels.
The trust launched its investment scheme in 2013 to help the organisation generate 50 per cent of its own energy by 2021. Today, the charity says it has met that target.
In the Lake District, installations can be found in some of the most historically and environmentally significant sites in the trust’s care, ranging from mountain hydros in the fast-flowing streams of the Borrowdale to a biomass boiler heating a historic house full of 800 years of history at Sizergh, Kendal.
Patrick Begg, the trust’s director of outdoors and natural resources, said: “Over a decade ago we set ourselves the ambition of growing our own energy and reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, and began a serious programme of investment shortly after. We’ve since completed 138 projects – and most you wouldn’t even know are there.
“Many of our historic properties that were once reliant on oil are now fuelled by natural resources and much of our visitors’ experience is rooted in renewables – from the exquisite tapestries on view that need carefully-controlled humidity, to the holiday cottages kept warm by heat pumps and the lights turned on in our hydro-powered buildings.
“As debate intensifies around how the UK sources, generates and saves energy, these projects offer a snapshot of what’s possible – even in the most challenging and remote of settings. The technology and the solutions are already at our fingertips.”
Among the most recently completed projects is a hydro-turbine at the hamlet of Watendlath. Hydropower was first installed in the community 60 years ago, but the 1920s system had long fallen out of use. Earlier this year, the trust switched on a new ‘run of the river’ hydro that captures water running over a screen in the beck to provide enough energy to power 84 average family homes each year.
Will Handford, the trust’s renewable energy programme director, said: “These projects are as much about looking to the past as they are about modern engineering, and this hydro perfectly illustrates how relevant these age-old methods still are.
“Watendlath is one of the most spectacular locations in the Lake District so it’s crucial that the system blends seamlessly into the landscape. It shows how we can sympathetically install green energy projects into treasured settings – which has been our mission from the start.
“Projects like this are an investment in the future, and many are already generating an income, with excess power sold back to the grid and the money ploughed back into conservation of our buildings and landscapes.
“With renewable energy firmly in the spotlight right now, we hope our work demonstrates what can be done.”
Garry Sharples, the trust’s renewable energy project manager in the Lake District, said: “We’re delighted to continue the tradition of harnessing water power in the Lake District. The turbine at Watendlath is the 11th that we have installed over the recent years and it’s fantastic to have brought hydropower back to the beautiful hamlet. Now more than ever it’s important for us reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and the hydros, solar panels, biomass boilers and heat pumps that we’ve installed at our places will help us do that.”
In total the 11 hydro units will produce 5,788,000 kWh of power, the equivalent annual electricity needs of almost 2000 houses, feeding directly into the National Grid and will help the National Trust in its ambitions to be net carbon neutral by 2030.
At Sizergh, near Kendal, new solar panels and a biomass boiler have been installed. The solar panels will provide electricity to the café, shop, toilets and visitor welcome area. The panels will produce approximately 35,000 kWh per year and will be reducing Sizergh’s reliance on the National Grid and ensuring more of its income goes into conservation work.
The new biomass boiler provides heating and hot water to the buildings on site, including the historic house that Henry Strickland, the latest of 26 generations, still lives in today. The biomass system will reduce gas consumption by around 90 per cent at the largest mansion property the National Trust cares for in the Lake District.
