Cofton Holiday Park

Holiday park looked to Treco to provide the best green energy solution for its 4,800 sq ft complex

Key Facts

Location

Dawlish, Devon

Project included

  • 3 x Lindner and Sommerauer SL-250T 6R wood chip boiler
  • 5m agitators
  • Flue system, thermal store & distribution pipework including internal connections to heat exchangers also included

Fuel cost saving

£49,000 (comparison between the site using wood chip vs LPG)

CO₂ saving

Up to 450 tonnes annually

RHI payments

A project of this size would gain approximately £85,000 in RHI payments every year for 20 years, index linked to inflation

Total project cost

£593,000

ROI

4 to 5 years (combining RHI income & fuel cost saving)

Cofton was after a green energy solution for our hot water needs. Treco worked closely with us to find the best solution and then managed the design and build of the scheme from the beginning to the end. We chose Treco due not only to their locality, but also their vast knowledge demonstrated and their willingness to take our current biomass boiler and encompass it all into one district heating system for the park. We would recommend Treco to other businesses – they are a pleasant team and can’t do enough to help.

Overview

Cofton Country Holiday Park is set within 80 acres of countryside and consists of a mixture of camping plots, caravan plots, static caravans and lodges. It is open all year round and hosts a wide range of amenities such as an outdoor pool, gym, sauna, fishing lakes, playgrounds and shopping facilities.

The multi award-winning holiday park near Dawlish, South Devon is surrounded by an amazing natural habitat, which they’ve nurtured over the years resulting in numerous conservation awards including over 15 years’ of Gold Awards from the David Bellamy Conservation Award Scheme.

The challenge

To connect all of the properties up to the biomass system, Treco was required to install over 1800m of underground pipe. The business had to remain open to the public, and so it was crucial that we worked with the client to ensure there was no impact to the operation of the business. Due to this, it was planned that the laying of the pipe and reinstatement would happen concurrently to ensure minimal disruption to customers.

Our works were also going on during key times of the year for holiday makers, such as bank holiday weekends. We had to ensure our works were planned around these times, and that all the shower blocks were available to use throughout the busy periods.

Our custom solution

To connect all of the properties up to the biomass system, Treco was required to install over 1800m of underground pipe. The business had to remain open to the public, and so it was crucial that we worked with the client to ensure there was no impact to the operation of the business. Due to this, it was planned that the laying of the pipe and reinstatement would happen concurrently to ensure minimal disruption to customers.

Our works were also going on during key times of the year for holiday makers, such as bank holiday weekends. We had to ensure our works were planned around these times, and that all the shower blocks were available to use throughout the busy periods.

More information about the types of systems in our range can be found on the biomass boilers page.

The incentive

Cofton Country Holiday Park has always been committed to making a difference and being driven to improve energy efficiency, reduce its carbon footprint as well as save costs on their ongoing fuel bills, they were decided on a renewable energy source to achieve those goals.

Saving around 40% on Cofton’s existing annual fuel bill the new boilers, which burn locally sourced wood chip, are set to not only cut CO₂ by at least 450 tonnes per year, but to provide pay back on the installation costs in under five years, aided in part by the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme. Benefitting from the RHI scheme will see the system generate approximately £85,000 in payments every year for the next 20 years (index linked).

The big reveal

Taking its green credentials to new heights, Cofton launched a state-of-the-art biomass hub that will provide heat and hot water to Cofton’s 4,800 sq ft leisure and dining complex, cottages, and shower blocks.

Officially opened by Anne Marie Morris, MP for Newton Abbot, Cofton’s biomass hub is the largest of its kind in Devon, and is expected to produce on average 1.9 million kWh of energy that will constantly charge four 5,000 litre thermal stores of hot water, heating its indoor pool, cottages, outdoor pools during the summer months, 24 showers and Cofton’s amenity blocks.

Funded by a half million pound loan from Natwest Bank, the four new biomass boilers and district heating solution mean that multiple locations across Cofton can be heated from the one hub.

We were delighted Cofton Holidays appointed us to oversee the biomass heating system. With reduction in carbon emissions becoming more and more important to businesses both large and small, it was a great opportunity to be involved in a local scheme of this scale.

The project centred around the replacement of a series of individual fossil fuel boilers, all of which were replaced with a central wood chip boiler system, which comprised three 250kW boilers, all housed in a state-of-the-art boiler house. The site’s existing biomass boiler was relocated to this building, providing the site with one central biomass hub.

With CO₂ savings of over 450 tonnes annually, and fuel sourced locally from sustainable forestry, the scheme helps both national carbon reduction targets and supports local jobs.

It has been a pleasure to have the opportunity to work with a local business which places as much importance to conservation and the local environment as financial reward.

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