LONDON OLYMPICS ENERGY CENTRES
The cost of the new energy centres and district heating mains will be recovered through the long-term operation rights of the new infrastructure
future. A 16 km network of buried pipes deliver the district heating and cooling throughout the Olympic Park (see box). The heating mains operate at temperatures of 95C flow 55C return, while the chilled water mains operate at 6C flow and 12C return.
Legacy schemes A scheme of this scale does not come cheap. The cost of the new energy centres and district heating mains have been financed by Cofely, who will recover their investment through the long-term operation rights of the new infrastructure. Currently, energy demand is starting
to ramp up as preparations for the Games gather pace. The Games and the Paralympics will provide an eight- week demand peak. After the Games, demand will drop for a year or so while the temporary venues are removed, the remaining venues undergo their conversion into legacy buildings and the athlete’s village is transformed into homes. The first legacy scheme likely to be
Within the Olympic Park energy centre, huge circulating pumps are suspended above pipework rather than being floor mounted
constructed after the Games will be a housing development, built on the site of the temporary basketball arena. Critically, the mix of development slated for this area has changed. Originally the plan was to develop a high-density housing scheme with 12,000 homes located mainly in high- rise apartment blocks. However, the proposals have changed
so that the scheme now has 5,000 fewer occupants and a higher proportion of lower-density family housing. The extent of district energy service required, and
the subsequently high heat losses, mean that low-density housing is, traditionally, unviable from a district heating perspective. However, options are being examined to ensure that, when the scheme is connected, it will be in the most efficient way possible. It would be ideal if new developments
with a high heat load are attracted to the site after the Games. The energy centre scheme is heat led, which means the utility needs to sell heat to make the CHP and biomass boiler systems viable to operate, and to reduce the carbon intensity of the heat supplied. The ideal businesses to set up on the site would be hotels, leisure and healthcare facilities because they have high hot water loads. It helps, too, if the loads are clustered together to minimise the pipe network; it is also beneficial if the loads are from a diverse range of businesses to even out demand throughout the day. The project has been helped in its
mission to sell heat by the Olympic Park being declared ‘an area of exclusivity’. This designation entitles the utility to be the sole provider of heating and cooling on the site; a ‘price control formula’ has been put in place to regulate the price at which heat can be sold to ensure it costs less to end-users than traditional means. Originally the project business plan included the sale of 20% of the energy centres’ heating capacity outside the Park’s boundary. However, following changes to the legacy plans, this figure is likely to increase. The heat supplied to the Genesis Housing Group’s scheme is the first scheme outside the Olympic Park boundary to benefit from the district energy network.
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CIBSE Journal August 2011
www.cibsejournal.com
ODA 2008
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