WINNERS OF THE RENEWABLE ENERGY CATEGORY ARE RIVER DART COUNTRY PARK

The River Dart Country Park recently completed restoring a derelict hydro-generation system on its estate which has seen its electricity bills cut from £4000 a month to £240 a month in the summer!

Last year, the Park’s owner, Mark Simpson, installed the country’s first fish-friendly Archimedean screw installation. Although well-established in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, this is the first system of its kind used for power generation in the UK. Earlier this year it was assessed by the Environment Agency who confirmed that fish can pass through the system without being damaged.

The forecast payback of the project is expected to be between four and five years and results so far have been impressive. Furthermore, the system is fully automatic and is achieving self sufficiency in power for most of the year, needing only a small import in the peak season.

Well done River Dart Country Park your project not only shows good sustainable practice but also make economic sense as well.

Finalists in the above category were:-

Loyton Lodge
Natsley Farm
Naturalwatt Limited