An energy conservation firm in Nantwich has been at the forefront of a £500,000 biomass project at a luxury hotel on Anglesey.
Tre-Ysgawen Hall Country House Hotel and Spa is thought to be the first hotel in Wales to harness the power of biomass fuel for heating.
The biomass plant, switched on by Welsh Government Minister Edwina Hart, was given the green light following on-site assessment by Nantwich-based energy experts Carbon Control Ltd.
The 600kW renewable energy system, powered by wood chip, will cancel out the £90,000-a-year oil bill of the four-star hotel and safeguard its future as an employer of 80 people.
Andrew Fletcher, managing director of Carbon Control Ltd, oversaw the year-long biomass project.
He said: “Tre-Ysgawen is showing terrific leadership within their industry by seeing this project through to the end.
“What we are very excited about and keen to happen as a result of this project is for other big energy users in the area to be able to see this project working and see how it can work for them.
“We hope it will give other businesses a means of reassurance so they can look at investing in this type of greener technology with confidence.”
Neil Rowlands, chief executive of Tre-Ysgawen Hall Hotel, said: “It was becoming increasing painful to watch as the price of oil continued to rise all the time and it was essential to regain more control of the hotel’s energy costs.
“We have been spending £200,000 a year on LPG, oil and electricity and in business terms, that means I have to have a turnover of £800,000 a year just to pay the fuel bills. It was crucial to the future of the hotel that we did something now to address this.”
The biomass boiler will cost the hotel £40,000 a year to run, less than half it was spending on oil. The running costs will also be paid for under a Government subsidy scheme for 20 years.
Fuel is tipped into a large storage unit. When the boiler needs fuel, it draws in wood chip from the storage compartment and burns it. Energy is then transferred to the hotel and spa to provide their heating and hot water.
(Pic: Minister for business, enterprise, technology and science Edwina Hart with Neil Rowlands, chief executive of the hotel, Edward Jones, of Stobart Biomass Products Ltd, Paul Clark of Rural Energy, and Andrew Fletcher, of Carbon Control Ltd)
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