Cofely’ district energy reaches 500 GWh a year
District-energy infrastructure owned and managed by Cofely now has the capacity to deliver over 500 GWh a year, following recent additions to the company’s portfolio — including extensions to the Birmingham and Leicester schemes. The news comes at a time when the Department for Energy & Climate Change is promoting district heating as the low-carbon energy solution for urban areas as part of its heat-strategy framework. The 500 GWh is the total of heating and electrical power from schemes based on CHP.
Simon Woodward, CEO of Cofely District Energy, comments, ‘The UK District Energy Association reports that over 14% of the UK’s heating needs could be met using low-carbon district-heating sources within the next 20 years.
‘With schemes in Birmingham, Leicester, Greenwich, Olympic Park and Stratford City, Whitehall in London, Manchester and Southampton, Cofely District Energy is uniquely placed to help the UK reach its substantial potential in this market and deliver a significant proportion of this target.’
Cofely’s low-carbon district- energy schemes use CHP to generate hot water and electricity. Some schemes also use heat from the CHP in summer to produce chilled water from absorption chillers.
