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Blackpool Victoria Hospital made a priority of cutting their carbon emissions and invested £1.5 million in a CHP energy scheme installed by Vital Energi, who also act as Energy Service Company.
Blackpool Victoria Hospital (BVH), a large acute hospital treating patients across Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre has made a strong commitment to reducing their carbon footprint, appointing Vital Energi to deliver an ambitious £1.5m scheme to upgrade and improve their existing energy facilities.
Aimed at cutting the NHS’s environmental impact, the NHS Carbon Reduction Strategy for England sets ambition, focus and direction for the NHS sector to drive change towards a more sustainable, low carbon healthcare system. Consequently BVH have developed their own carbon reduction strategy in a bid to improve the energy efficiency of all areas on the hospital’s estate.
Working closely with the client, Vital Energi produced a detailed design and construction solution involving replacement of part of the aged steam plant and financing, re-design, supply, installation and commissioning of new energy efficient plant and equipment providing heating, electrical power and cooling services in a more energy efficient and environmentally friendly way.
This environmentally friendly solution includes the design and installation of 1.2MWe gas fired combined heat and power (CHP) plant housed with the existing energy centre to generate electricity for use in the hospital reducing the site’s electricity demand from the national grid, with the waste heat utilised for heating and hot water. In order to maximize efficiency, two old boilers have been removed and replaced with a 6 tonne per hour combination dual fuel steam boiler, carefully designed to re-use the waste heat from the CHP engine to produce steam.
A 350kW absorption chiller and adiabatic cooler system situated at roof level, designed supplied and installed by Vital Energi will take advantage of the waste heat from the CHP to provide cooling to the hospital when heating requirements in the summer months are reduced.
Vital Energi are also responsible for the design, supply, installation and commissioning of a new local HV electrical substation. This new 1,250KVA transformer includes a low voltage electrical distribution panel replacing the existing 500KVA arrangement. The work will facilitate the connection of the new CHP engine and re-enforce the local electrical infrastructure.
The works also includes the design and installation and routing of the interconnecting LTHW distribution pipe network from the energy centre to the absorption chiller, a challenging task due to the limited space available and positioning restrictions around existing pipework, plant and equipment.
Vital Energi has entered into a long term energy service agreement with BVH with responsibility for the financing the capital cost of the complete CHP system combined with operation, maintenance and management performance for a minimum of 16 years. The benefits of this arrangement to the hospital are that they pay for their electricity at a pre-arranged price per kW, with risk and responsibility transferred back to Vital Energi, allowing them greater certainty about future costs, as well as simplified budget and cash management; dispensing with significant overheads associated with managing their existing energy systems.