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Case Study
The Thurlestone Hotel
- Biomass
- Annual energy savings of over £15,000
- Annual RHI payments in excess of £30,000
The Client
Owned by the Grose family since 1896, The Thurlestone Hotel is the oldest family run hotel in England. With stunning coastal views across South Devon, it is a multi-award winning four-star hotel, offering first class accommodation with luxury spa, golf and leisure facilities.
The Challenge
As a holder of the Green Tourism Gold Award, the hotel owners constantly strive for environmental and efficiency improvements that are sensitive to its stunning surroundings.
We were selected to conduct an energy review of the entire 19 acre site to assess current capability, waste, efficiency and investment opportunities. However, any solutions had to be turnkey to accommodate the hotel’s scheduled shut down.
The Solution
Our review flagged a number of opportunities for the owners to reduce consumption, invest in a more sustainable fuel source, attract Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) payments and reduce energy bills.
As a result, we made the following improvements:
1. Highly efficient, cost-effective heating
Installation of an ETA Hack 199kW biomass boiler which burns wood pellets and supplies heat to the hotel via external pipework installed to minimise heat loss.
2. Full integration into the hotel’s existing heating system
Both the hydraulic configuration and controls were reconfigured to increase system efficiency, as well as bringing the hotel under view of the ETA control package providing complete system visualisation, fault notification and remote access.
3. Maximising space & saving time
Renovation of an existing outbuilding to provide a fuel store & plant room. With careful design, the existing space was maximised to ensure that the fuel store had sufficient volume to minimise the number of deliveries, whilst maintaining sufficient operating access within the plant room.
4. Reducing the hotel’s energy bills
We used the buying power from our Tier 1 broker status to ensure the hotel was on competitive rates for their new utilities contracts.
Since making the improvements, IU Energy has continued a close working relationship with the Thurlestone Hotel, providing service and maintenance, mechanical installation work and on-going solutions to further reduce energy costs.
The Results
- Electricity contract savings = total 1st year £7,476.11
- Biomass pellet cost savings (in comparison to oil) = £8,500.00 per year
- Renewable Heat Incentive payments of £33,000.00 per year
“IU Energy were awarded the contract based on their consulting capability and technical ability to design and implement a turnkey solution, which was crucial due to the restricted timescale. Their work is really paying off and will continue to do so for years to come.”
