Woolley Park Golf Club ‘putt’ solar on
Norcroft Energy installs 32 solar panels on roof at Woolley Park Golf Club
Norcroft Energy has just completed a solar panel installation at Woolley Park Golf Club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. Set in the spacious and peaceful setting of an old deer park, Woolley Park is renowned for an outstanding and challenging 18 hole course, with not a flat green in sight.
Philip Rowbottom, Proprietor of Woolley Park Golf Club, was looking for a way to reduce the Club’s electricity bills. Philip said, “Our electricity bills continued to escalate and we needed to find a way to manage this. The more money we can save on our electricity bills, the more we can invest in the grounds to provide the best course for our members.”
“With a south facing roof on our site, it made perfect sense to use this space to install multiple solar panels to generate our own power and make a profit at the same time”, added Philip Rowbottom.
Solar PV technology converts energy from the sun into electricity. The stronger the sunshine, the more electricity is produced. Philip turned to Norcroft Energy to conduct a site survey to assess the best position for the solar panels to be installed and find out more about how the Club can benefit from the technology.
Philip Mosley, Managing Director at Norcroft Energy said, “We find that a typical business can benefit in three ways from Solar PV technology. First, they have the reliability of generating their very own power – a big consideration with energy prices continuing to increase. Secondly, they can make a profit with their guaranteed Feed in Tariff payments, and thirdly they can make more profit on the Export Tariff.”
Norcroft Energy installed an 8kW solar system on the Clubhouse roof at Woolley Park, a total of 32 solar panels.
Philip Mosley added, “Because of the nature of the building, we had to be very accurate with our measurements to ensure the panels fitted and looked good. We installed 32 black European manufactured solar panels. The panels were chosen to blend in with the black roof slates to reduce the visual impact on the approach to the building.”
The annual Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) for Woolley Park is estimated to be £1140, with annual savings of £1860 from generating their own energy. These savings are at today’s rates with another fuel increase the savings will just grow.
Philip Rowbottom added, “We chose Norcroft Energy based on price and level of service. They handled the whole process for us, even the planning and electricity board application. We are very pleased with the result.”
Woolley Park joins a number of Golf Clubs that have turned to the sun to generate their own energy. With daily costs of living getting higher and higher, many more are likely to follow suit and look at ways to save on their electricity bills.