Back in June of this year, The Shuttleworth Trust invested in the installation of a 150KWP photovoltaic – in other words a huge solar power generation system – across several of the hangar roofs. With this new system in place, during the average Spring, Summer and Autumn daytime, these panels will provide enough power to cover the needs of the visitor attraction and will see around 25% of this green energy being exported back to the grid for others to use.
The average household solar power generation system in the UK is around 3.5KWP; the system installed on our hangars is almost 43 times bigger. In practical terms, when the panels are in full sunlight, they can power 50-75 electric kettles simultaneously.
In the first six months since installation, the system at Shuttleworth has generated 125MWH of electricity, saving the equivalent of 24 tons of CO2 emissions or having the same environmental impact as planting 1,480 trees.
Whilst this is fantastic for the environment, the panels also help to make the visitor attraction far more economical as the peak energy consumption of the Collection and visitor areas are during the day. This means the installation costs will be paid back within about half that of the average installation.
However, this is not the end of the work toward sustainability for The Trust. We also recognise the need to reduce background electrical consumption across the site. We’ll be actively looking for more energy efficient equipment and systems, and reviewing what items are necessary to leave powered on throughout the night.
Head of Engineering, Jean-Michel Munn, said, “By reducing our background electrical consumption by about a third in the last 18 months, and combining this with the effect of this programme across the whole site, we have seen a substantial positive financial and environmental impact. We will endeavour to continue this work to improve the wider sustainability of the site and its operations.”
