Tipperary agricultural college scoops major national energy award

Tipperary’s Gurteen College were crowned Energy Team of The Year at last night’s 2018 SEAI Sustainable Energy Awards which took place in the Mansion House, Dublin.

Gurteen fought off competition from Musgrave and the Dublin Airport Authority to scoop the award.

The college is a registered charity founded in 1947 and offers a range of recognised Teagasc and other courses to people who intend making a career in either agriculture, equines or related services.

In association with Tipperary Energy Agency, the college have implemented a range of energy efficiency measures and have reduced their energy consumption by 49%.

These measures include the installation of a wind turbine and biomass boiler. There is also 80 acres of willow grown on the farm. Approximately one third of it is harvested each year in rotation. The harvested willow provides 80% of the heating for the college each year.

In 2017, 186 PV panels were installed on the roof of the horse arena. A total of €45,000 was invested into the installation of the PV panels and it is anticipated that they will produce over 40,000kW of electricity each year leading to a saving of between €7,000 and €8,000 per year.

A new smart LED lighting system was also installed to all the main buildings and arenas with a total cost of €163,788. Each building required an individual smart system with individual controls.

Gurteen College is also the venue for the highly successful Energy in Agriculture event. 2018 was the third year of the event and welcomed 3,000 visitors as well as over 70 exhibitors. Plans are already in place to see the event return there in 2019.