Canons Brook Golf Club goes green with Windhager
Escalating fuel prices amidst an economic downturn has resulted in businesses turning to greener sustainable heating systems in a bid to reduce bills. Canons Brook Golf Club realised the positive changes biomass boilers make and since choosing Windhager’s BioWIN Excel model they are reaping the rewards.
Golf clubs are tasked with heating large areas such as changing rooms and reception halls. Gathering new members while retaining those already instated is increasingly becoming more competitive, meaning clubs must cut the cost of outgoings while still providing first class facilities. Windhager’s biomass boilers offer a greener alternative with a 90% efficiency rating while ensuring the comfort of the client’s business isn’t compromised.
Recently the government, with substantial funding of £860 million, has launched the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). The scheme is a first in financially supporting businesses to convert to renewable heat and paying them for the heat energy produced per unit at a fixed rate. This aspect creates a sizeable income for any business that goes green and signs up for the scheme, which can also offer loans to help with the initial instalment costs.
Chairman of Canons Brook Golf Club, Ivor Marshall, found that it was becoming increasingly harder to budget for the original oil-fired heating system and so looked into other options including a mains gas alternative but this was soon rejected when its was found to include an £80,000 outlay and no return on investment. He explains, “The costs to prepare and install the system made no financial sense, so we turned our attention to renewable sources”.
After much research and calculation, with the current rate at 8.6p per unit and the boilers generating 120kW, it was found the club could generate £314,000 of clear income over 20 years after installation costs had been repaid. “Moving from oil to biomass was a real no-brainer. The figures seem too good to be true but they’re not. The income expectations are fantastic and in terms of energy use, it allows us to plan how we heat the club, unlike oil or gas, which offer no additional benefits”.
The Windhager BioWIN Excel increased the efficiency by 20% after replacing the existing system that operated at 70%. Wood pellets are a more efficient fuel, take up less space to store and produce carbon that is already in the carbon cycle so making it less harmful for the environment. The wood pellets themselves are sustainably sourced and in doing so reduces the Canon Brooks carbon footprint even further.
Just Energy Solutions, the company contracted to fit the two 60kW biomass boilers, collaborated with Windhager to design an installation that would be in keeping with the listed buildings and allow easy access for deliveries of the wood pellets. With supply lines to the cascade boiler system being run underground and through high-level lofts there was no cause for more severe structural alterations, helping to keep disruption for the members to a minimum as this was a key priority for the club.
The Windhager BioWIN Excel model features a unique automated pellet feeding system that provides a continuous supply of the 6mm wood pellets to the boiler via suction probes in the storage hopper. This function allows the pellet storage area to be separate from the boiler room if necessary and with up to 8 suction probes available per unit the storage volume remains uncompromised with no need for sloping sides to the container. This combined with the self-cleaning burner bowl consisting of two sliding ash grates and a large integrated ash box that requires manual emptying as little as once per heating season, means the BioWIN Excel can pride itself in being maintenance free.
The attractiveness of such low maintenance requirements was a key factor in Canons Brook’s decision in choosing Windhager boilers, along with the staggering expenditure savings of £6,500 per year on fuel bills starting straight away.
The BioWIN Excel reflects Windhager’s reputation for durable quality by including a double ignition element and long-life stainless steel burner bowl. This coupled with thermal controlled combustion makes it an excellent, versatile option for golf courses and other large properties looking to swap their expensive and high-fuel consumption systems for the long term, economical and greener alternatives that Windhager provides
