Warm feeling for Daisy Chain’s renewables project
A NORTON charity’s shelved renewables project is back up and running.Daisy Chain’s project to turn its five-and-a-half-acre farm into a hub for green energy, while saving money on heating and electricity, ground to a halt back in the summer.The charity, which helps autistic children and their families, was just 20 days away from hearing whether a triple funding bid had been successful when they found out their installers, AAG Swepco, had been placed in administration.But bosses found a new installer - Darlington’s Natural Warmth - which has just fitted the first phase, an air source heat pump which will take them off grid altogether.Daisy Chain project manager Matt Simpson said: “AAG Swepco were managing the whole renewables package, but unfortunately they went into administration.“It was quite a big step back, it delayed the project by about six months.”The charity enlisted the help of a renewables consultancy firm, which soon got the project back on track.“We badly need heating so we started with an air source heat pump,” added Matt, “it will save us a lot of money. We don’t need a gas supply to the building at all now.”Steve Heslop MD of Natural Warmth, said: “Daisy Chain’s Calf Fallow Farm was perfect for what we do. The heat pumps should pay for themselves within the next six or seven years.”The first phase of eco-development at Daisy Chain has been funded thanks to a £20,000 handout from engineering firm MWH Global as part of its corporate social responsibility programme.Daisy Chain wants to raise more cash for a 12-metre wind turbine for educational purposes