In November 2014 Oaks Barn Farm made a commitment to change form our Oil dependance on fossil fuels to switch to a sustainable heating source for the farm and 2 of its self catering Luxury Farm Stay Cottages.
Previously we were concerned about rising oil prices, and the spiraling cost of our electricity bills, but to fix the problem the farm had to invest significantly in the future.
We took a gamble on a Government backed Renewable Heat Incentive or RHI for short, the application was time consuming and the goal posts changed by the day, we had 12 months of obstacles before finally getting our commercial install approved in January this year. Now that our payments are starting to trickle through this 20 year contract will enable the farm produce all of our hot water and central heating needs throughout the year and to hopefully claw back some of our significant investment over the next 20 years. Unfortunately though, our government in their wisdom have now significantly reduced the incentive to new applicants due to affordability of the scheme, this is despite the fact that as a country we are falling significantly behind achieving our green targets and continue to buy coal from outside of the uk to fuel our power stations.
For our guests however they can book with us safe in the knowledge that their stay with us will not cost the earth. Since the install the Okofen has produced 71325 Kw of heat from 20 tonnes of wood pellets.
The Boiler loads its Day hopper during peak sunlight hours which is supplied by our solar panels, these since their install have produced 18229 Kw of power to date, this averages out approximately 2/3rds of the farms consumption, yes we would like to do more but these significant steps are hard for a small business.
We have been able to include a drying room in our install to cater for all of the Farms washing, allowing us to be in control of the quality for all of our laundry.
For more information on our Green Family Farm Stay click on the following link: http://bit.ly/FarmStayOptions
