A spa resort on Windermere has completed a major renewable energy project with the addition of 385 photovoltaic solar panels.

Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa has installed the solar panels across five buildings around its grounds, with each cluster facing south or south westerly to maximise sunshine hours and light exposure.

English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues has invested £195,000 in the project which is aligned with its eco-tourism and sustainability commitments. The hotel group commissioned Kirkby Lonsdale based firm RJ Solar to install the PV panels.

The new solar panels are expected to provide annual electricity generation of over 130,000 kwh. As well as contributing to environmental targets on carbon reduction, they will save the resort a significant amount of costs in energy consumption.

Low Wood Bay already generates around 12% of its own electricity from its hydropower water turbine fed from a fellside stream. It generated 209,269 kwh of the hotel’s green energy production in 2024, saving around £36,000 in operating costs.

English Lakes Hotels estates director Tim Berry says:

“This is another major renewable energy project for the venue and, based on projected annual electricity bill savings, has the potential to have paid for itself within around six years. And the estimates provided indicate savings of over £1.3m over the lifetime of the PV solar panels."

“The environmental benefits are hugely significant too, with around 33 tons of CO₂ emissions prevented each year. Over the PV system’s lifetime, that will equate to planting over 6,000 trees – or equivalent to saving on nearly a million kilometres of car journeys or 700 long haul flights."

“Our aim for future years is to be able to run the venue as close to ‘carbon neutral’ as possible, helping to protect the environment as well as significantly reducing our energy and operating costs. A continued drive for innovation will be crucial if we are to succeed, but projects such as these are proof that there is significant return on investment in renewables.”

Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa recently received the nationally recognised Greengage ECOsmart gold award. It is the leading certification system for hotels, hospitality and meeting venues which includes UN sustainable development goals into its benchmarking processes.