Ener-G plays key role in bringing CHP to hospitals
The £6.3 million modernisation of the energy infrastructure for two acute hospitals of Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation involves Ener-G designing, building and operating a low-carbon infrastructure that comprises natural-gas CHP, lighting, pumps, chillers, boiler plant and water-saving measures.
Using specialist long-term funding made available through the Carbon & Energy Fund, the 15-year contract for Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge Hospitals is guaranteed to deliver gross annual cost savings of £1.2 million. The trust’s carbon footprint will be reduced by around 6200 t a year across the two sites.
Ener-G is integrating a range of technologies to reduce demand and use CHP to achieve energy savings of around 30%.
These CHP systems have been designed to allow for the 10% reduction in electricity demand from demand-side improvements.
At Arrowe Park Hospital, a CHP system with an electrical output of 1710 kW will be installed in the existing boiler house. It will interface with existing absorption chillers and provide both heating and cooling. The CHP system will displace up to 70% of the site’s electrical and thermal demands.
At Clatterbridge Hospital, Ener-G will design and operate a new energy centre in the old boilerhouse.
A containerised CHP unit with an electrical output of 770 kW will displace up to 60% of electrical and thermal demands. The project also includes new high-efficiency boilers and all the equipment to distribute thermal energy across the site.
David Hounslea, director of estates and facilities for the trust, explains, ‘This ambitious project will be financed through the energy savings we generate. The scheme builds on existing energy-efficient projects, which have already reduced the trust’s carbon-dioxide emissions by 14 000 t a year since 1999.’