Rural Energy Partnership
DEVELOPMENT SCHEME
FITZROY PROJECT
Project Aim
The aim of this project is to significantly reduce the amount of fossil fuel required to provide adequate heat and hot water to the farm manager’s house by a utilising excess electricity generated by the existing wind turbine.
Background
Fitzroy farm has been operated by Falklands Landholdings Corporation Ltd. (FLH) since 1991. There are 13 domestic properties at Fitzroy settlement, 3 providing housing for FLH employees. All the Falklands Landholdings owned domestic properties in the settlement have their heating and hot water supplied by diesel fuelled boilers. The diesel is transported by road over 25 miles from Stanley.
Current system at the Managers House
25kW Diesel Fuelled Boiler installed in 2000
Hot Water Cylinder installed in 2000
The current system uses on average 12,000 litres of diesel a year costing £6,000 (Diesel price £0.50 per litre). It is estimated that the boiler operates approximately 4,500 hours per year.
Project Design
The idea is to install a frequency controlled, switch connected to an immersion heating in the new hot water cylinder. When the wind turbine is producing excess electricity, the electrical frequency in the Fitzroy network will rest slightly, the new frequency switch will turn on when the frequency rises above a pre-set limit. This will mean that some of the excess electricity is used to heat water and to help reduce the amount of fossil fuel required to provide adequate heating and hot water.
Project Planning
After the award of the Rural Energy Partnership Development grant the design began. The first step was to find out if there was any excess electricity being produced at Fitzroy and, if there was, how much? From the excessing monitoring system, it was easy to find out that around 50% of the time there was more electricity being generated than the demand but what is hard to find out is the over generation by 1 watt or 10 kilo-watt. The next step was to find out what was available off the shelve that could be used to help utilise some of the excess electricity.
After a lot of research a suitable frequency controlled switch was chosen that will be connected to a new immersion heater, the main reason was that the setup would require little work to install the system and if it works could easily be fitted to other houses in the settlement.
The system was ordered in November 2016 through the local installer and supplier PowerSense.
Project Installation
The system was delivered to the Islands in early March 2017, but due to the capacity of local tradesman the system is hoped to be installed before the summer starts in 2017. The installation is estimated to take a maximum of two days. The total cost of the installation is expected to be no more than £2,000, if the system generates as predicted the payback will be an estimated 2 years.
Update 30th September 2017
The equipment has been installed but has not been connected yet. It is anticipated to be connected within the next month, so that the business can start utilise the excess electricity generated by the wind turbine.
Update 6th July 2018
The issue of lack of labour and the innovative technologies has really hindered the two project at North Arm and Fitzroy. There is still full commitment to get both projects operational and show the benefits of the installation of innovative technologies in the Islands.
Working towards a highly successful, diverse and sustainable economy for the Falkland Islands