National Trust unveils UK’s biggest marine source heat pump

Previously the Trust’s biggest oil consumer, Plas Newydd was using up to 138,000 litres of oil per year at a cost of around £70,000. The new installation will provide 100 per cent of the heating needed by the mansion and is anticipated to save some £40,000 annually. Installation of the heating system cost £600,000.

The 300kW marine source heat pump was manufactured by Stiebel Eltron UK and installed by Kimpton Energy Services, both headquartered in Bromborough, Merseyside. The system pumps a small amount of sea water from the Menai Strait through a network of pipes to and from a heat exchanger on the shore, and then up 30 metres of cliff face to the mansion’s boiler house.

Mark McManus, managing director of Stiebel Eltron UK, said: “The commissioning of the marine source heat pump is the culmination of more than three years of planning and implementation.

“The installation of the pump will transform energy usage at Plas Newydd, dramatically improving its CO2 performance and saving tens of thousands of pounds a year that were previously being spent on oil.”

Richard Kimpton, managing director of Kimpton Energy Services, said: “A team of more than 40 people worked on this complex and challenging project, which involved us working around the tides in order to move equipment and carry out the installation.

“The design phase of the project was incredibly demanding and had to ensure that our calculations met the criteria of the Government’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), which stipulates specific performance requirements.”

Paul Southall, an Environmental Advisor at the National Trust, said: “This project has seen a number of firsts – the first marine source heat pump of its type in the UK, the biggest at 300kW and the first in open sea rather than a harbour. Considering the scale of the project, everything has gone remarkably smoothly.”

This project is the first of five schemes to be completed in a £3.5million pilot phase of its Renewable Energy Investment Programme. The National Trust aims to reduce its energy usage by 20 per cent and meet half its energy requirements through renewable energy by 2020.

Other key partners in the project included SEACAMS, led by the School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor University, and renewable electricity supplier Good Energy, which launched the Renewable Energy Investment Programme with the National Trust last year.