Wight Community Energy and Mixergy are working together to help hotels on the Isle of Wight save energy using pioneering smart water heating technology.
In the first phase of the project during 2021, Wight Community Energy and Mixergy installed monitoring equipment onto existing hot water tanks in four typical Island hotels.
The data collected has been used to identify the characteristics of the existing systems and model the improvements that would come from using the pioneering Mixergy tanks.
Palmer: Reducing energy consumption in the hospitality sector
Colin Palmer, director of Wight Community Energy said,
“This project is a great opportunity for the Island. The machine-learning capabilities of the Mixergy tanks will reduce energy consumption in the hospitality sector, helping the selected hotels to reduce their energy use and still provide an excellent experience for their visitors.
“Longer term, WCE will support and promote the wider scale adoption of these smart hot water tanks to spread their energy saving benefits.
“There is also the potential to build an internet-connected smart electrical network of these tanks to expand the demand for renewable energy capacity on the Island, a vital contribution to achieving the Island’s net zero ambitions.”
Gardener: Keen to pursue new technologies to lower our carbon impact
The Seaview Hotel is one of the establishments trialling the Mixergy tank technology. The owner, Robin Gardener said,
“At the Seaview Hotel we are keen to pursue new technologies to lower our carbon impact both for our guests’ and our own consciences.
“We’re very happy with the work the Hot Water Project has done already and look forward to seeing the savings in our energy use and on our bills.”
Clark: Has been a really useful tool
Nick and Hayley Clark, from The Chestnuts in Shanklin, said,
“Just having the hot water level gauge has been a really useful tool, knowing when the hot water has got very low etc.
“When our tank was routinely serviced in November, the gauge and other Mixergy equipment blew the engineer’s mind as he never knew this technology even existed!”
Funding for three hotels
Funding has now been secured from Power to Change to enable up to three of the award-winning Mixergy hot water tanks to be installed at selected hotels at no cost to the owners, to showcase the savings that can be made over the holiday season.
The Mixergy smart hot water tanks can save energy, reduce the chances of running out of hot water and, when many of them are linked via the internet, strengthen the weak electrical network on the Island.
White: Huge potential for carbon savings
David White from Mixergy said,
“Working with the Wight Community Energy team has been a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate the value of data insights in making effective energy saving decisions.
“There is huge potential for carbon saving across the Island’s hotels and B&Bs as well as in domestic settings, and the hot water project has really helped to demonstrate this.”
The Mixergy tanks will be installed at three accommodation hospitality sites in the coming weeks, so that data can be recorded throughout the 2022 holiday season.
News shared by Suzie on behalf of Wight Community Energy. Ed
