CHP helps to reduce cathedral’s carbon from Blackburn cathedral
A mini-CHP unit generating 12.5 kW of heat and 5.5 kW of electricity is at the heart of a wide-ranging project to reduce energy bills at Blackburn Cathedral. The Baxi Senertec unit is part of the £210 000 first phase of an energy-reduction strategy that will ultimately include a biomass boiler. It is expected that the energy consumption of the cathedral will be reduced by nearly 30%, amounting to about £15 000 a year.
Existing boilers and equipment for regenerating domestic hot water have been replaced by condensing boilers and the CHP plant, all controlled by a BEMS.
Graham Egerton, national projects manager with mechanical contractor Thermatic, said, ‘The cathedral is a live environment, so the M&E works had to be carefully co-ordinated with the cathedral’s services.
We also had to contend with a challenging time frame, carrying out the works before the start of the heating season.’
The Dachs mini-CHP unit is designed for continuous running with a design life of about 80 000 running hours. The internal-combustion engine drives s 3-phase generator.
