National Winners of Little Green Change and Naturesave Trust’s UK School Energy Competition

Hybrid Solar/Wind Turbine for Bishop’s greenhouse!

In January 2025, Bishop’s was invited to enter the prestigious Little Green Change and Naturesave Trust’s UK School Energy UK competition, focusing on lower the school’s energy consumption and/or on producing or using renewable energy.

Here are some sections from our application:

Purpose: To make energy used in our school greener, by building and installing a hybrid wind and solar energy turbine to heat the school greenhouse. This will enable us to plant seeds earlier in the season, e.g. in February, rather than the end of March.

Context: The Bishop’s Green Warriors Club grows flowers and vegetables from seeds for the school grounds. We can’t start planting seeds until the end of March because temperatures are too low for germination to occur inside our greenhouse. We are therefore looking at options to heat the greenhouse using renewable energy, so that we can plant more seeds to make the school grounds a more attractive environment for the school community, as well as encourage more wildlife.

Installing a dual solar/wind turbine to generate renewable energy, would enable us to start planting out seedlings much earlier in the season. Last summer, we upcycled old tyres to make creative tyre planters and we are planning to create more new planters this year. If we are able to install the solar/wind generator to our greenhouse, we would also be able to grow all the plants we need using this new source of renewable energy. In the past, we have not been self-sufficient and have had to buy some plants from a local nursery.

The hybrid solar/wind turbine will operate in all weather conditions. Even if there is little wind and it is overcast, some solar energy will still be generated to ensure that the temperature in the greenhouse is maintained to help our seedlings grow. The system can be used to increase the temperature inside the greenhouse throughout the winter and springtime.

We have done some research and found a dual solar/wind turbine (costing approximately £300), which generates 2.08kwh per day under ideal conditions. The turbine will be attached to the roof of the greenhouse and be connected to a 12V battery (costing approximately £80) and converter (costing approximately £100) and then wired to a small fan heater to boost the temperature inside the greenhouse. All other materials such as steel brackets (reused from another project) and concrete are already available at school. We have chosen a dual energy turbine as the solar panel complements the wind source, if there is a drop in wind strength, and therefore provides non-stop power.

We were delighted to be selected as the winning entry on 1st May 2025 and will soon be ordering and installing our new hybrid wind/solar turbine. This project will have a long lasting legacy and can be expanded by adding additional batteries. This is a wonderful example of us moving towards a greener and more sustainable community to Bishop’s Hatfield Girls’ School.

Please see the article published in the Little Green Change newsletter: https://littlegreenchange.com/news/