Health sector embracing CHP

The £6.3 million modernisation project on Merseyside will be funded through investment from the Carbon and Energy Fund framework and will include new natural gas combined heat and power (CHP) plants as well as energy efficient lighting, pumps, a chiller, a boiler plant and various water saving measures.

Both the Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge hospitals will receive the latest energy efficiency measures, saving an estimated £1.2 million per year over the course of the 15-year contract.

This ambitious project will reduce the carbon footprint at our two acute hospitals by approximately 30%

David Hounslea

After completing an extensive auditing process, ENER-G will integrate multiple technologies into the scheme by combining a range of demand-side measures with CHP to achieve total projected energy savings of around 30%.

At Arrowe Park, a 1710kWe CHP system will be installed within the existing boiler house area. The CHP will interface with all the main hospital plant rooms and the existing absorption chillers to maximise the utilisation of the recovered heat from the CHP and provide both heating and cooling.

Meanwhile, at Clatterbridge, ENER-G will design, install and operate a new energy centre in the old boiler house - containing new, high efficiency boilers and all the equipment to distribute thermal energy across the site.

A 770kWe ENER-G containerised CHP unit will also be installed - displacing up to 60% of Clatterbridge’s electrical and thermal demands.

Director of estates and facilities for Wirral University Teaching Hospital David Hounslea said: “This ambitious project will reduce the carbon footprint at our two acute hospitals by approximately 30% and will be financed through the energy savings we generate.

“This scheme builds on existing energy efficiency projects, which have already reduced the NHS Trust’s carbon dioxide emissions by 14,000 tonnes per year since 1999.”