Friday 22 July 2016

Excess wind power to heat Scottish homes

Excess wind power that cannot be fed into the electricity grid will soon be used to heat Scottish homes.

Residents in the Orkney Islands are to benefit from a new smart-control energy system directly linking excess renewable energy generated from wind turbines to their home heating systems.

Around 100 households in the islands are to trial the new scheme after the Heat Smart Orkney project received a £1.2 million boost from the Scottish Government’s Local Energy Challenge Fund. The project is managed by the Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre Development Trust (REWDT).

Michelle Koster, Project Manager of REWDT, said: “We are delighted to have received this funding award. Orkney has the highest levels of fuel poverty in Scotland and the electricity grid regularly has to be curtailed, meaning the community-owned turbine in Rousay is turned off.

“Providing the ability to divert otherwise curtailed energy into secondary heating devices installed in homes seems an obvious solution."

The funding boost came as the Scottish Government awarded more than £10 million to support nine large-scale, low carbon energy projects across the country.