CHP unit complements thermally efficient student accommodation
Low-carbon heating, hot water and electricity is provided for new student accommodation in Liverpool by a LoadTracker CHP unit from SAV Systems. The unit at St Michael’s Hall has an electrical output of 20 kW and thermal output of 40 kW and serves FlatStation heat-interface units to the various clusters and studios in the building.
The apartments comprise 5 or 6 bed spaces with shared kitchen and dining facilities, together with studio accommodation. There are 264 bed spaces in all.
The building itself is thermally efficient, as Craig Cleary of consulting engineers Futureserv explains: We worked closely with architects Formroom to achieve a thermally efficient building envelope so that space heating requirements are minimised. We also specified energy-efficient lighting and ventilation, so that the dominant energy demand is for domestic hot water. We considered a number of low-carbon heating options, and CHP was the most practical and cost-effective solution and had excellent payback potential.’
A key feature of LoadTracker is modulating in response to electrical demand to avoid selling surplus electricity to the grid at unfavourable rates.
Temperature and pressure controls in the FlatStations optimise comfort and provide instantaneous hot water at stable temperatures at the taps, minimising energy bills during the heating season as only the primary flow required for the plate heat exchangers is allowed through the primary side of the FlatStations.The controls also permit very low primary return temperatures to maximise the efficiency of the system as a whole.
