Boutique Hotelier
Avisford Park Hotel has completed a £300k project to install a solar PV and battery storage system as the sector continues to be hit by rising costs for energy.
The 140-bedroom hotel, close to Chichester and Arundel and part of Crest Hotels, is expected to cut the hotel’s carbon emissions by an estimated 33 tonnes annually with the new initiatives.
Once fully operational, the 163.24kWp solar PV and battery storage system is expected to generate around 161,000kWh of clean electricity a year.
Spread across its full 25-year output, the cost of electricity from the installation works out at 5.88p per unit, significantly below current and forecast grid rates and fixed for the life of the system.
Jason Hiley, managing director of Crest Hotels Limited, said: “This £300,000 investment at Avisford Park Hotel shows that environmental responsibility and commercial resilience can go hand in hand. By generating our own renewable electricity and incorporating battery storage, we are reducing our reliance on the grid, lowering our carbon emissions and creating greater certainty around one of our largest operating costs. It’s an investment that will benefit our guests, our business and the wider environment for many years to come, and reflects Crest Hotels’ commitment to investing in a more sustainable future.”
As the hotel’s electricity usage does not align with peak sunshine hours, the battery storage is critical to ensuring the energy generated can be used on site when needed, maximising self-consumption and reducing reliance on grid supply.
A former Georgian manor house, Avisford Park Hotel has 140 bedrooms, a restaurant, a lounge and leisure facilities including an 18-hole golf course, indoor pool and fitness suite.
The hotel also has 12 event spaces, from meeting rooms for 12, up to the Grand Hall, which holds up to 350 guests for theatre and banquet events.
Zoe is Managing Editor at Boutique Hotelier. For over a decade at the title, she has covered big name interviews, hotel openings, acquisitions and the movers and shakers of the sector, as well as hosting… More by Zoe Monk
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