London - The Queen of England plans to only use electricity generated from alternative energy at her summer residence in Scotland, the Daily Telegraph has reported. Balmoral Castle is to become the first royal household to be energy self-sufficient.
A hydroelectric power station fed by a river - the Gelder Burn - on the castle's estate is to power not just the Queen's apartments but also around 1000 homes in the neighbouring area.
The manager of the power plant, Alasdair Gill said "The powerful year-round flow of water should generate about one megawatt (MW) of electricity and run like a miniature version of the massive Scottish hydro plants that can produce 300MW of power. These initiatives have been welcomed by environmental campaigners."
The Queen has recently made concerted efforts to reduce the environmental impact of the royal household, such as converting the state cars - a Rolls Royce, a Daimler limousine and a Rover 400 - to liquified petroleum gas (LPG), the paper said.
