Author: tgw110

Final week with CWT

My fourth and final week working with Cornwall Wildlife Trust is drawing to a close. Another week of good progress and I have just about completed all of the work for the project. I‘ve not yet finished a write-up of all of the work I’ve done, to present to the Trust, so I’ve volunteered to continue working on the report and submit it to the Trust once it’s complete.

Two more of the installation quotes were delivered this week, brining the total up to three from the four consultations, but one is still yet to arrive. I set about going through the details of each, as although the same items were discussed at each consultation the proposals from each company are different.

Penultimate week with CWT

Week three at the Trust completed and I’m entering the latter stages of the project. This week my focus was directed towards investigating the Trust’s potential to produce their own biomass wood fuel to almost eliminate heating expenses entirely.

I began Monday morning generally researching this topic to get an overview of the process and identify all aspect that would require consideration. In the afternoon I accompanied one of the team on a visit to two of the Trust’s nature reserves to get some idea of what is there and where it is.

I spent Tuesday morning investigating any legal requirements of producing your own wood fuel, and what the government requires for this to still be eligible for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) payments.

Second week with CWT

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.

First week with CWT

My internship working with Cornwall Wildlife Trust got off to a great start. Whilst here I will be investigating the feasibility of renewable energy installations at their head offices. The Trust does great things to protect Cornwall’s wild things and wild places, and with the engineering and economic aspects of my project, I was excited about both where I was going to be working and what I was going to be working towards.

The morning of the first day entailed general housekeeping, introductions and a site tour. There were a lot of people to meet and names to (try and) remember, but all were very welcoming and created a good working environment.