New battery storage helps care home energy efficiency

Work has been completed to improve energy efficiency at a Corwen care home.

Denbighshire County Council’s Energy and Fleet teams has completed a project to install a battery energy storage system (BESS), alongside a 21.36kWp solar array at Cysgod y Gaer to help harness energy generated by the building’s PV panels.

The team has managed projects across council buildings to improve building energy efficiency and reduce emissions as part of the council’s drive to reduce its carbon footprint after declaring a Climate and Nature Emergency during 2019.

They have previously worked at Cysgod y Gaer to install a 10.2kW PV array, LED lighting and modify the sites heating system. This combined work reduced gas consumption from an average of 750kwh to 200kwh daily and lowered carbon emissions by around 10tonnes per year.

The installation of the 40kWh battery has received funding support from the Welsh Government’s Energy Service as part of the EVCI & ZEV Grant 25-26.

Two electric vehicles operate from the site daily, supporting the local community with health and social care needs. The average annual combined usage of the two vehicles is more than 10,000kWh of electricity per annum, enough to provide an equivalent zero tailpipe emission distance covered that exceeds 30,000 miles, and contributing to reducing air pollution across the county.

Solar batteries store the electricity generated by PV panels during the day so it can be used when the panels aren’t generating. The stored energy could be used at night or during very cloudy days where your solar panels don’t generate enough electricity, helping maintain lower long term energy usage costs. The additional array is expected to save around 19,440kWh of electric and 3.76tons of CO2 emissions annually.

Cllr Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport, said: “We remain committed to reducing our carbon emissions and energy usage across all our buildings. We are grateful to the residents and staff at Cysgod y Gaer for allowing this work to be carried out to continue driving down energy usage costs and carbon emissions at the site.”