Case Study – The Duke of Portland Boathouse

Overview

The Duke of Portland Boathouse provides a unique and secluded location, sitting directly on the northeastern tip of Lake Ullswater in the beautiful county of Cumbria. With its superb views across the Lake and the Fells above, the location makes for an absolutely stunning holiday retreat.

The owner has completely refurbished the boathouse installing an advanced power supply system. In such a remote location, all of the electrical power is generated onsite using the fully integrated Powerguard PS System. The integrated PS System comprises of a diesel generator set and the PS System, which includes a battery bank and an inverter.

Unlike normal generators which would run all of 24hrs, the PS system only needs to turn on the generator during periods when the electrical demand is high e.g. for a power shower, cooker or heating. This high demand period usually equates to less than 8hrs per day and if these periods are regular, the PS System can be programmed to turn on the generator automatically. The clever part of the PS System is that during periods when the demand is high, any unused power is used to recharge the batteries. This stored energy then provides AC mains power to the boathouse for the remainder of the day and night i.e. when the demand is low.

The payback on an integrated PS System over a stand-alone generator is typically around 3 years. To facilitate further fuel savings, the system can also handle imports from renewable generation sources to recharge the batteries, and the CHP option can provide free hot water whilst at the same time increasing efficiency to over 80%.