A CAMPAIGN is under way in West Lothian to make an historic town self-sufficient in renewable energy. Linlithgow – the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots – is developing a natural grid, with the aim of disconnecting from the National Grid electricity supply. And Linlithgow Natural Grid (LNG) has been examining how it could be done using a combination of solar and wind power, along with the innovative “Heat from the Street” project, which has received £25,000 of funding from the Local Energy Challenge Fund. This would capture heat from waste water flowing beneath the streets of the town, using heat pumps powered by solar electricity. An energy corridor would be created through the town by linking this mini power station with a mini district heat network, serving a cluster of public buildings. At its heart is a sewage heat recovery system from Sharc Energy Systems that captures heat from the millions of gallons of household waste water making its way to the treatment plant. “We aim to install community solar panels on blocks of Linlithgow flats and, instead of selling the production on the cheap, use it to power heat pumps to take the heat from waste water to meet sources of high local demand, particularly in public and church buildings. “And if our initial study gets us through to the next round of the Local Energy Challenge, we well receive funding to implement the project from April 2016.”
Town plans to be self-sufficient
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