The scheme has gone exceptionally well. The project not only satisfies a significant element of the estate’s and facilities directorate’s long-term CIP plans, but also satisfies our commitment to reduce the trust’s carbon emissions and meet our sustainability targets.
Andy Fairgrieve, Head of Estates and FacilitiesWe are getting healthy financial returns which are good, if not better than envisaged. We are in discussions with Vital regarding the roadmap to decarbonisation, it's a three way discussion between us, CEF and Vital.
Don Mackenzie, Energy Manager, York Teaching HospitalThe centrepiece of Vital Energi’s new system is the 1.2MWe Combined Heat and Power engine which produces electricity, but also harnesses the heat which would normally be lost to the hospital site. The new CHP engine will provide 100% of the electricity needed overnight and 50% of the electricity during the day. The engine will run for the majority of the year and come offline for maintenance during the summer months when heat demand is at its lowest. Vital Energi installed a 512kWth waste heat boiler to capture heat from the Combined Heat and Power engine exhaust.
The CHP engine, along with the hospital’s three 500kVA standby generators means that they are now fully self-sufficient in electricity in the event of mains power failure.
Significant upgrades to the Building Management System will bring overall improvements for the Trust, with Brian Golding, Energy Manager for York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust stating, “The Site-wide BMS enables it to control the environmental temperatures better, it improves the resilience of the controls so we don’t get as many faults, it enables us to monitor and increase the useable information. It changes us from being reactive to proactive.
As with any Vital project, communication was the foundation of its success, particularly when it came to schedule unavoidable shutdowns. Vital Energi engineers took the time to personally build relationships with all managers and staff within the hospital, speaking to them on a daily basis to keep them informed of the details of upcoming work and to ensure we accurately understood any issues and concerns they had. The works in the hospital had to be planned around each departmental working day when access could be allowed, and services could be isolated and the strong working relationship allowed us to foster a sense of working in partnership with members of the trust.
Vital Energi was also appointed as the Energy Services Company (ESCo) due to its ability to provide a long-term energy strategy which provides a robust energy generation solution combined with energy conservation measures and guaranteed performance targets. Under a 15-year performance contract Vital Energi will deliver guaranteed savings in excess of £12 million over the contract term and reduce carbon emissions by 45,000 tonnes. As part of the ESCo arrangement, Vital Energi will continue to monitor and control the CHP engine and boilers, ensuring optimum performance and lifecycle length.