CHP in environmental-sustainability showcase

Combined heat and power is among a range of technologies installed at Solaris, a regional centre of excellence in environmental sustainability in Blackpool. The DACHS mini-CHP unit from Baxi Technologies has a heat output of 12.5 kW with 5.5 kW of electricity. Compared with centralised power generation in the UK and gas-fired heating only plant, reductions in carbon-dioxide emissions of about 5 t are expected from 6000 h of operation a year. Primary energy needs are reduced by about 30%. The CHP unit sits alongside technologies such as photo-voltaics, wind turbines and rain-water harvesting. Councillor Fred Jackson, portfolio holder for the urban environment at Blackpool Council, says, ‘By combining renewable and efficient technologies such as photo-voltaics, wind turbines and CHP, we have created an extremely energy-efficient building; in fact, we class it as a “zero-energy” scheme.’

Related links:

• www.baxi.tech.co.uk