SSE has won a major award for its part in designing a sustainable Welsh farmhouse that can power itself.
SSE’s Maes-yr-Onn Off-Grid farmhouse project won a Wales Planning Award at the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) Cymru Annual Dinner.
The award recognises examples of good planning practice, with particular focus on a project’s connection with the landscape, originality, and how it tackles climate change.
Jo Horrigan, SSE National Development Director (Wales), said: "This project demonstrates our wealth of expertise and experience around the integration of renewable technologies, and provides an example of what can be achieved with the correct design and installation partners.
“SSE has financed and installed the interlinked renewable technologies on the site, which has enabled the family to both live 'off grid' and reduce their energy usage by 50%.”
The Maes-yr-Onn Off-Grid Farmhouse was delivered as a consortium which included SSE, Caerphilly Borough Council’s Sustainable Development Team and Building Research Establishment (BRE) Wales.
The brief was to design, support and deliver a new sustainable off grid home for the Davies family, who are sheep farmers.
The agreed design was a traditional Welsh longhouse that was sustainable and off grid, with no connection to the gas, electricity, or water mains.
SSE’s National Development business delivered the exemplar project through SSE Home Services and SSE Contracting.
The technology includes solar PV on the roof to generate electricity, batteries in the basement to store that electricity, as well as thermal storage and metering technology to help the family to manage it.
The site also features a biomass boiler which uses wood sourced from woodland on the farm as fuel, and rainwater harvesting technology, which recycles rainwater for domestic use.
Stacey Green, SSE Contracting Project Manager, said: "SSE is delighted and proud that the Maes-yr-Onn project has won this award. It recognises both the high quality of the delivery of the scheme, as well as the effort and commitment of the Davies family.”
SSE will work with Construction Excellence Wales to review the on-site data over the next twelve months to gain insight into the benefits and disadvantages of off grid living, to help to shape future projects.