The start of my second week with Cornwall Wildlife Trust and I picked straight up from where I had left the project on Friday afternoon, following the first consultation with a renewable installation consultant. The consultation raised questions from both sides and I began to find the answers to the consultant’s and relay them to him. I got access to recent electricity and fuel invoices for the various buildings at the reserve, where I am based. With the recent invoices I began to log and manipulate the energy data to provide information requested by the consultant, and to try and determine the thermal energy demands of the site; attempting to identify what portion of electrical demand was used for space heating.
Tuesday, and I continued analysing the data I had been working on the day before. I looked in more detail at the Government’s Renewable Heat Incentive scheme and developed a spreadsheet to quickly calculate the expected returns for various installation and operation scenarios. The intention is to optimise the chosen renewable installation to maximise payments to the Trust for operating the system. I also researched the likely maintenance requirements for an installation and acquired quotes for annual servicing to include this in costing the project.
The second, of four, renewable installation consultations was arranged for Wednesday morning. It was interesting to hear other ideas and discuss the project with another specialist, with different opinions. Questions were again raised which I set about answering. I spent the afternoon looking again at the UK energy statistics I had gathered last week. I attempted to develop some idea of expected future trends in energy markets so as to include some information on likely future electricity and fuel prices.
The first two consultations had been really useful and having questions ready to ask, and discuss, with the consultants had been a big part of this. I had another consultation arranged for Thursday, and the final one on Friday afternoon, so I tried to ensure that I thought of everything I would like to ask over the next couple of days. Between consultations I began to compile the report that will document everything I do on the project and be the final deliverable at the end of the four weeks. I summarised some of the research I had performed in the previous week to provide a quick background on the motivation for the project.
The second week over, and halfway through the project. Another productive week, the project is progressing well and I feel well placed to continue working on it next week.
