As part of their commitment to sustainability, the Dakota Eurocentral Hotel wanted to install a solar PV system on their rooftop that would provide renewable energy to the main hotel and their brand-new wedding and events space.
4
Weeks Installation Time
56,668
kg Of Carbon Saved Annually
191,626
kWh Annual Energy Generation
158
kWp Array Output
Project Details
Dakota Eurocentral Hotel
Located just outside Motherwell in Scotland, the business approached Shawton Energy to help their decarbonisation journey. Having already installed electric charging points in 2021 when acting as the sole hub for all the e-buses used throughout the COP26 summit in nearby Glasgow, Dakota wanted to do all it could to become more sustainable.
Installed a rooftop solar PV system at Dakota Eurocentral Hotel outside Motherwell, Scotland
Ensured zero disruption of services to staff and guests
Dakota Hotels to generate an extensive amount of onsite renewable energy for 30 years
The Process
01 Bespoke Turnkey Solution
In a bid to reduce the hotel’s carbon footprint, we worked closely with the hotel to review their usage levels, their peak periods as well as their roof infrastructure to ensure we were building a system not only for their current needs but also their future requirements as they move away from using to gas to becoming electrical only.
02 Unintrusive Installation Plan
As the hotel is an active environment with guests and staff requiring uninterrupted access and services, we had to take this into consideration during the entire process. We created a site compound at the very end of the hotel car park, which was as far away as possible from the property’s entrance and main guest parking. All materials were taken onto the roof by crane to ensure that there was no disruption for guests at all times.
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The Result
We created a system where we delivered a total of 25% of their annual power demand by installing a 158kWp solar solution and ensuring minimal export due to local grid constraints. This system provides them with 191,626kWh of power annually and will save them over 56 tonnes of carbon annually. The system took slightly longer to install that usual due to ensuring minimal disruption to the guest experience but ultimately delivered a system that had a financial pay back in less than 5 years. Dakota Hotels will now be generating a large amount of renewable energy, onsite, for 30 plus years.
“Working within the travel and tourism sector provides both a responsibility and an opportunity to be a catalyst for change within the industry. We try our best inside the hotel to be as sustainable as possible, so it makes sense to try our best on the outside with the installation of the new solar-panelled roof. We are very excited about our future aspirations to become more sustainable. This is simply the beginning of our efforts to pave a new dawn within the sector across Scotland and beyond.”
John Dickson, Hotel Manager, Dakota Eurocentral
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