England is not exactly famous for abundant sunshine. Nevertheless, the Hideaway camping and holiday complex near Baxby Manor, about 15 kilometres northwest of the English city of York, relies on the power of the sun for its energy supply. After all, when the range of accommodation was expanded to include several fully equipped holiday cottages, the aim was to make the energy supply as sustainable as possible.
New power consumers added
But there was also a very practical consideration. For example, the existing single-phase 60-amp power supply would not have been able to cover the additional power consumption. This is because the new cabins are fully equipped with kitchen, shower and lighting. Added to this are the air-to-air heat pumps that provide heat for the cabins.
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The whirlpools next to the huts also need electricity. There were two alternatives here: extending the grid connection or switching to more self-supply. The owners of the hideaway opted for the second option, as reinforcing the grid connection would have cost an immense amount at this rural location.
Grid connection relieves the burden
Therefore, it made sense to relieve the load on the grid connection with a solar system and a storage unit. In the meantime, a photovoltaic generator with an output of 52 kilowatts covers most of the consumption in the holiday resort. This is a free-standing system that the installers from Vero Power from the northern English port city of Sunderland set up with ballast tubs on the ground behind a row of trees.
90 per cent solar power in the area grid
In order to be able to use the solar power completely, they have set up another container in the shade of the trees. It contains, among other things, eight BYD battery box systems. These can temporarily store 120 kilowatt hours of the solar power produced and feed it into the on-site grid as needed. In this way, about 90 per cent of the resort's electricity needs can be covered with renewable energy. The existing grid connection of eight kilowatts only serves as a backup for the power supply. Via a separate battery charger, the grid power is supplied to the resort's energy system via the storage unit.
In just the first three months after the system was commissioned on 29 March 2023, the system generated 12,408 kilowatt hours of solar power. During this time, the holiday resort only had to draw 1,448 kilowatt hours of electricity from the grid. That is about ten per cent of the total demand for the resort.
Concept turned on its head
The owners of the Hidaway were thus able to not only supplement the grid power supply with renewable energy, but establish it as the main source of energy supply, while the grid power is now only used as a backup. "Baxby Manor has not only met its short-term energy needs, but also future-proofed its system. While photovoltaics and energy storage have often been used as a backup for grid power in the past, this example shows that you can turn the concept on its head," explains Alvaro Garcia, Commercial Director of EFT-Systems, BYD Battery-Box's European service partner. "I believe that being able to live sustainably on holiday, even with higher amenities, makes Baxby Manor an even more attractive destination. By choosing a solution with a modular design, such as the BYD Battery-Box LVL, which is also scalable at any time, as demand increases, power and storage capacity can be seamlessly expanded, which is unthinkable with a grid-only expansion."
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For Vero Power, the development and implementation of the project was not an isolated incident. "We have seen a dramatic increase in demand from customers in all industries, but particularly in the tourism and leisure sector," says Craig Morgan, sales manager at Vero Power. "Operators of holiday parks and campsites are looking for ways to convert their business to a more sustainable source of energy while reducing the exceptionally high cost of grid energy," he explains. (su/mfo)
