A zero-carbon sustainable business park is going to be constructed at Wheal Jane, near Truro, in Britain. The full support of the Environment Agency is also present.
The plan to initiate the new business park was moved to a forward phase as the proposed wind turbine at Balbhu site was granted consent.
According to Bernard Ballard, Director of Marketing and Property at the Wheal Jane Group, they are responsible for collecting information concerning the overall progress of the project. This includes wind energy and other sources of energy.
The aim of the plan is to establish and develop sustainable business clusters. The project incorporates various renewable energy sources; ground source geothermal heating, biomass power plant, a wind turbine, a photovoltaic solar farm and two small-scale hydropower schemes to produce electricity.
The site is supposed to be independent. The sustainable business park will generate all its required energy and export surplus energy to the national grid. There will also be several zero-carbon workshops as well as office buildings in the park.
The fundamental principle is to maximise the use of natural resources available at the site. An example is the hydropower scheme which will generate electricity from a current waste water stream coming from a mine water treatment plant at Wheal Jane. The mine de-pollution plant is actually run by The Environmental Agency.
Mark Pilcher, from the Environment Agency confirms the effort to fight against climate change by encouraging renewable energy projects. They support renewable energy and the demise of fossil fuels. Less use of fossil fuel will act as a mean to reduce carbon emissions.
The mine water treatment plant at Wheal Jane utilizes an extensive amount of energy. There are seven large electric pumps that operate for up to 24 hours per day. The processed water is released in the stream. The hydropower system generates energy from the clean water stream. This allows the recovery of the energy spent in de-polluting the water, creating a green cycle.
Pilcher stated that surplus of electricity produced by the park will be injected into the national grid. This will help to decrease the dependency on fossil fuel energy.
The project has gone through a range of consultation stages incorporating major stakeholders: community workshops, public exhibitions and other members. It is now in a progressing phase.
Source: Click Green, EDIE and Wheal Jane Master Plan
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