Queen goes Green: Engineer hired to put solar panels on one of her castles
By Lauren Beavis via SWNS
A man who told the Queen he was a solar panel engineer when she asked him ''and what do you do?' was stunned when she later got in touch - and paid him to install some on Balmoral Castle.
Businessman George Goudsmit, 80, met HRH at an event and had a 'twenty-second' conversation with her.
The 95-year-old monarch asked him what he did and he said he made solar panels and she mentioned she had thought about having them at her Scottish residence.
George, managing director of AES Solar, was shocked when he was later commissioned to install panels at Balmoral Castle.
He and his team carried out a survey and put the panels on a large estate house at the sprawling pile at Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire.
George, of Forres, Scotland, says there is now even discussions of installing them at Buckingham Palace.
He said: ''I am always on the lookout to find interesting projects - and I can definitely say this is one of the best ones we've found.
"This was such big thing for me and our company.
''Solar energy and renewables is what I go for and push anytime and anywhere, to get as much renewables into the world as possible.
"There was talk of renovating Buckingham Palace but it all came to a halt when the pandemic hit.
''Hopefully, this will be something to discuss in the future now that we have already worked with the Royal Family.''
George met the Queen at a function on the Isles of Scilly to celebrate the success of his daughter’s business, Little Island Chocolate.
He said: ''She asked what I did and I told her I make solar panels.
“As she walked away she turned around and said, ‘maybe I should have solar panels at Balmoral’.''
Mr. Goudsmit, who recently received a lifetime achievement award at the Solar and Storage Awards, then wrote to The Royals as a follow-up.
They later replied and he was asked to carry out the work.
He said: “We installed solar thermal panels on one of the houses. It was a nice little project.”
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