After successful initial trials, Cairngorm Mountain ski area above Aviemore, which is currently still open for snowsports, has begun using hydrotreated vegetable oil across their mountain operations to help reduce our emissions by up to 90%.

The oil is being used to power the centre’s fleet of snow clearing machines, its snow making fan guns, its SnowFactory all-weather snowmaking machine, auxiliary and standby generators and workshop heaters.

The centre says it extensively tested the fuel during February with many hours of usage, within the extreme temperatures that are common at Cairngorm and found no negative operational issues across the machinery.

“Whilst our future lies in electrical power including on site renewables where possible, hydrotreated vegetable oil has provided an opportunity to power existing machinery prior to further changes in technology in areas like the grooming fleet – where charging times are not viable at this point in time. Whilst hydrotreated vegetable oil is more expensive than traditional red diesel, it clearly has environmental benefits that are already being realised,” a spokesperson for Cairngorm said.