Minister Fired Up over Bluestone Boilers
The new Welsh Assembly Heritage Minister, Alun Ffred Jones had his
first opportunity to visit Bluestone this week.
In addition to a guided tour of the holiday village and the Blue
Lagoon water park, the Minister took a closer look at Bluestone’s
green credentials with a visit to the unique Energy Centre.
Sustainable development principles are at the heart of the
development. Bluestone uses biomass as a form of renewable, carbon
neutral energy. Blue Lagoon, the sports club and the offices are
all heated by biomass, in the form of miscanthus (elephant grass)
and woodchip grown by local farmers. Blue Lagoon is believed to be
the only facility of its type to use biomass technology, anywhere
in the world.
The heat for Blue Lagoon is provided by an on-site energy
centre, owned and operated by a company called PBESCO, an offshoot
of Pembrokeshire Bio-Energy (PBE), the co-operative of farmers
which for the last few years has been growing miscanthus and other
energy crops in preparation for the Bluestone
development.
PBESCO director Paul Ratcliffe, an arable and livestock farmer
whose land neighbours the Bluestone site, has been working on the
project since 2002, when he was asked to look into the viability of
energy crops by Bluestone chief executive William McNamara.
Paul said: “It’s important that the growers are also involved
with the actual energy production, both for technical and financial
reasons. The aim is for the farmers and growers to keep control.
With no middleman, all the money stays within the local
community.
Alun Ffred Jones said: “I’m delighted to have been able to visit
Bluestone today and to meet with the team that have made this dream
come true. The sustainable ethos which lies at the heart of
Bluestone is to be commended and I’m hoping that we can develop the
tourism industry in Wales where sustainability is the norm rather
than the exception. There’s no other way forward. I wish
William and his team all the best during their first year of
trading.”
Bluestone’s commitment to environmental responsibility extends
further than use of biomass, however. Among the myriad other
measures, all new Bluestone buildings have been built from
sustainable materials, and have been designed to maximise energy
efficiency. The lodges, for example, all have low-energy lighting,
triple glazing and high-value insulation, and the 100 Caldey lodges
have solar panels - supported by European Objective One
funding - to heat water.
William McNamara, chief executive of Bluestone, said: “We take
our commitment to environmental responsibility extremely seriously,
but there are other aspects to sustainability – and, to me,
the financial contribution Bluestone is making to the well-being of
this county is one of the most satisfying elements of the entire
project.
“Because of Bluestone, the economic future of our county is
brighter, and it’s this coupling of good environmental practice and
economic value to Pembrokeshire which is a constant source of pride
to me.”
For more information on Bluestone's environmental strategies,
read our environment pages.