Flambards reduces energy bills with technology

Flambards now operates its rides using 218 volts rather than 242

A theme park in Cornwall says it has reduced its electricity bill by £11,000 in six months after installing energy regulating equipment.

Flambards installed the "Voltis Units" which detect and regulate how much electricity equipment needs to operate.

The theme park now operates its rides using 218 volts, compared to 242, which it previously used.

Paul Morris from Flambards said: "The system works, the savings are there and we are extremely pleased."

'Optimum voltage'

Engineers at the theme park choose whether to run the rides using the "standards main supply" at 242 volts or the "power save" option which reduces the volts to 218, which is the amount the rides require to operate.

Voltis Units continually monitor the power being used by the equipment and adjust the flow accordingly.

The equipment, developed by Sussex-based firm Marshall Tufflex, is expected to pay for itself in three years and reduce the theme park's carbon emissions.

Jeremy Dodge from Marshall Tufflex said: "Our installation at Flambards is a brilliant demonstration project of what can be achieved with the system, given the range and large number of high power devices it is controlling.

"Not only has Voltis dramatically improved the environmental footprint of the theme park, it is delivering much lower power bills and has saved the business the expense of installing its own sub-station."

Professor Pete Vukusic, from the University of Exeter, said: "It works by employing a very clever technique, by which the voltage delivered to a supply is regulated very precisely.

"It is reduced to the optimum voltage range."