Most of you have probably never heard of Wyboston Lakes Resort. The resort is in the East of England and sits on 380 acres. The resort describes itself as “Northern Europe’s largest independently owned business and leisure destination.” It has an ambitious sustainability program.
Wyboston Lakes Resort just announced that it has implemented phase one of its Green Energy Roadmap and embarked on phase two of its path towards self-sufficiency in green energy.
A total of 356KWh of solar panels and a 200KWh storage battery installed at The Willows Training Centre are already helping to make the Centre more self-sufficient in electricity even on some winter days. At the same time, at The Woodlands Event Centre, a new upgraded Building Management System (BMS) which incorporates the use of Artificial Intelligence is reducing energy waste still further and optimizing energy usage.
After investing $820,000 in phase one, work has started on phase two on which the Resort is investing a further $2.9 million. This includes installing solar panels and storage batteries at The Woodlands Event Centre, The Waterfront Hotel and the Resort’s Knowledge Centre. Once completed later this year, the resort will have in total 1.4-Megawatt hours of solar panels and 1.1-Megawatt hours of storage batteries.
Transferring Energy Between Buildings
In addition, systems are being installed to transfer electricity between buildings when appropriate, with The Woodlands Event Centre linked with the Waterfront Hotel and The Willows Training Centre connected to the Knowledge Centre.
Pat O’Hea, Director of Projects at Wyboston Lakes Resort said in a press release: “These installations will not only enable us to operate on green energy generated on site but also significantly reduce our purchasing, which is a major saving for a resort like this. We are also currently working on plans for phase three which would, once agreed and implemented, make us fully self-sufficient in green energy. These projects are further demonstrations of the total commitment to the resort’s philosophy of ‘More Sustainable, No Apology’ which we put into practice in every way we can, all day, every day.”
Through the resort’s Room2Grow sustainability initiative so far, 23,000 trees have been planted around the 380-acre site with thousands more to come. This scheme gives guests staying more than one night at Wyboston Lakes Resort the chance to choose to have a tree planted on the resort instead of having their room cleaned.
The resort has been zero-to-landfill since 2015 and, to ensure that zero food waste goes off-site, has installed a biodigester, turning food waste into fresh compost for use across the site including for tree planting.
The resort’s commitment to sustainability has been independently accredited by earning gold awards from the Green Tourism Awards and the IACC, and EcoSmart Platinum Venue Award from Greengage Solutions.
