Equestrian Centre to slash carbon “hoof print”
17 January 2012
The Scottish National Equestrian Centre (SNEC) has gone into 2012 ready to slash its carbon "hoof print" and its energy bills, thanks to the installation of a huge array of solar panels in the second major "green" power project on the Oatridge College estate.
The £140,000 SNEC development uses 204 photovoltaic panels and replicates one already on the roof of the College's main teaching block, which came into service in August last year. It was one of the first large-scale installations to come on-stream in the Scottish educational sector.
It is estimated that the SNEC development will reduce the international-standard centre's demands on the National Grid by 65 percent and like the first array, will have an output of 50 kilowatts. It will save a further 20 tonnes of carbon being pumped into the atmosphere annually.
Both projects have been driven by Des Martin, who is both an assistant principal for finance and resources at the College and the Director of the SNEC, Bobby Wilson, the Oatridge property manager, and Dr James Hiddinga, an energy industry consultant, process engineer and physicist. It was Hiddinga who carried out a series of feasibility studies which ruled out wind turbines on the site - because there isn't enough wind to make them efficient - but discovered that West Lothian is one of the better parts of Scotland for solar technology, which is effective even in cloudy conditions.
Not only will the solar arrays reduce power bills by thousands of pounds a year, but will attract regular feed-in payments for using renewable energy.
The same company - AWS Solar of Forres - was awarded both of the photovoltaic contracts. The College has, with support from the Energy Saving Trust, also installed solar thermal panels on four student residential blocks to provide hot water. That contract, worth £60,000, went to Glendevon Energy of Kinross and brings the total number of panels on the estate to more than 450.
Oatridge is Scotland's premier College for education and training in the landbased industries and has a strong reputation for the quality of its environmental and countryside management teaching. Des Martin says the move to renewable energy will enhance its "green" credentials: "The College Board and Senior Management at Oatridge are committed to reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. To that end we have invested £280,000 in two 49.9 kilowatt arrays of solar photovoltaic panels. This should substantially reduce the energy bills and considerably reduce our carbon footprint".
The Scottish National Equestrian Centre was completed in January 2007 to provide a focus for all equestrian disciplines and officially opened by the Duchess of Rothesay, the Patron, in May that year. Construction of the £3.5 million first phase was supported by sportscotland and Scottish Enterprise. New stables for 32 horses were completed recently.
The Centre is operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oatridge College.
