For the founders of Wild Lakes, minimising the business’ impact on the environment is an absolute priority.
The attraction in Narberth, Pembrokeshire, is Wales’ first wake park, and is fast becoming Wales’ premier wakeboarding hub, drawing thousands of visitors each year. In addition to its on-site aqua park, it also hosts a large indoor climbing wall.
Switching to solar power seemed the natural next step and investment for the founders, who are also aware of the importance of solid sustainability credentials for their clientele.
The business installed a new 20kWh solar array which has allowed it to switch from powering the cables which create the artificial surf in its wakeboarding park with a diesel engine to clean, solar energy. In addition to powering the wakeboarding cables, there are also plans for the new solar array to power all of the cooking equipment at Wild Lakes’ kitchen.
Mark Harris, co-founder at Wild Lakes, said:
“As an outdoor business in one of Wales’ most impressive natural environments, our environmental impact is at the forefront of everything we do and we want to take every step we can to minimise our energy consumption and our carbon footprint. We know that this is something that’s also really important to our customers, who love the environment we have here and want to work with businesses and attractions who are working hard to preserve it.”
The investment in solar power came about thanks to a £40,700 loan from the Development Bank of Wales via the Welsh Government-backed Green Business Loan Scheme.
“The support we had from the Development Bank of Wales meant we were able to switch from older forms of power to new, cleaner energy, and gives us the infrastructure we need to make similar improvements in future,” said Mark.
Nakeja Howell, Portfolio Executive at the Development Bank of Wales, said:
“The Green Business Loan Scheme is there to support businesses like Wild Lakes who want to take that next step but may not know where to start. It’s given them the support they need to switch from older forms of energy and set themselves up for similar changes in future, and we’re delighted that we were able to help them along the way.”
In Ceredigion, Geraint and Christine Thomas are also aware of the huge importance placed on sustainability by visitors to their attraction at Bargoed Farm.
The farm includes a camping and caravanning site, farm shop and bistro, as well as a children’s play barn and lakeside events venue.
The events venue – financed via a £300,000 loan from the Development Bank of Wales, alongside grant funding – has solar panels, and electric vehicle charging points have been added in the car park.
The business has also installed two generators that operate on biofuel which are easily adaptable when newer, cleaner fuel options become available. It has also switched to three electric vehicles on site, two of which are light duty to ferry visitors and supplies and one that is heavy duty to move caravans.
Another investment was a baling machine, which allows all recyclable materials to be compressed, minimising their volume. This saves on storage space and reduces the frequency of waste collections, resulting in lower waste removal costs and a smaller carbon footprint.
Geraint said:
“The changes we’ve introduced have made the business more resilient to unstable energy prices and have already saved us a significant amount of money. Environmental sustainability is not only important to us personally, but our clients are clearly concerned about these issues too and have welcomed the changes made to the site.”
Watch the video to find out more from Geraint about his business and sustainability journey.
The Green Business Loan Scheme is open to businesses throughout Wales, offering a package of support to tackle energy efficiency and decarbonisation action. For more information, visit Development Bank Green Business Loan Scheme
