FEATURE
Generating Results As the electricity produced costs much less than purchasing power from the grid, each new system made an instant impact. The collective annual savings across the 89 sites are set to surpass £1.1million in the first year and has avoided almost five kilo tonnes of carbon emissions. This substantial reduction will vastly improve the environmental impact of Bupa UK by providing over 14MWh of self- generated electricity per year. Using CHP technology will also help to shield Bupa UK from rising energy prices, a cumulative saving of over £7million predicted by 2020.
Having been installed in over 89 Bupa care homes throughout the UK, the benefits of the CHP systems have been felt both by the organisation as well as the individual sites. For example, Summerhill Nursing and Residential Home, Kendal, has generated over 78,000 kWh of electricity since installing CHP. This energy would have cost over £8,000 if it had been purchased from the national grid and has avoided 40 tonnes of carbon being released.
Similar savings can be found at Netherton Green Residential and Nursing Home, Dudley. Here, the measures applied by Bupa UK have resulted in a reduced daily grid electricity consumption of 80%. An LED project at the site reduced the electricity usage by 20%, followed by a further drop of more than 50% once the CHP system was installed. A final significant reduction occurred after a Solar PV fitting.
Taking Netherton Green as an example, the daily consumption of electricity at this site now takes the form of only a small amount of grid electricity, with approximately 50%, replaced with self-generated energy. The CHP system produces a continuous energy load, and the Solar PV helps to top up the peak hours usage.
twitter.com/TomorrowsCare
Monitoring Successes CHP technology straddles two disciplines, bridging the gap between traditional heating and electrical generation. As such, its implementation is often less mechanical than other systems and one of the potential associated challenges of CHP for Bupa UK was troubleshooting on site. For example, when a module switches off and the heating system’s back-up boilers kick-in automatically, staff on site often remain unaware that the module is no longer in operation. While a secondary heat source may spring into action to avoid loss of heat for residents, the consequence is that no electricity is being generated during that period. This will have a significant impact on the payback period of the CHP module in question.
To remedy, this Bosch installed a remote monitoring BMS system for all 89 sites so that both parties could be notified via text message or email immediately if a CHP module stops working for any reason; enabling them to resolve the issue as promptly as possible.
The BMS system allows Bosch to view how many hours the appliance has run for and even when the next service is due. The manufacturer can also analyse any performance shortfalls – all of which ultimately create opportunities for the CHP module to be repaired proactively rather than in response to a breakdown or for the system to be restarted automatically without the need to send an engineer to site.
As well as the technological challenges presented by such a large CHP project, the number of sites involved also presented various logistical challenges. With nearly 100 different sites and plant rooms to account for, many of which are situated within Victorian or graded buildings, and each with their own individual space and time limitations, a flexible approach was necessary. Working closely with Bupa UK, Bosch
developed a simplified Hydraulic Solution designed to minimise the impact on the site and therefore on residents and staff.
“The benefits of the CHP systems have been felt both by
the organisation, as well as its
individual sites.”
Brita Sread, Property Director at Bupa UK, said: “We have over 350 properties in the UK, with care homes representing 85% of our energy consumption, so we wanted to make a concerted effort to ensure our existing building stock is performing as energy efficiently as possible.
“Although utilising energy efficient and renewable technologies is standard practice in new build properties, we knew that reducing our energy consumption at source across our existing care homes on a mass scale would significantly minimise our environmental impact, though a number of these being of Victorian construction added to this challenge.”
Shaun Mansbridge, Business Development Director at Bosch Commercial and Industrial, commented: “Energy efficiency and carbon reduction continue to become more and more prevalent and we are proud to work alongside an organisation that is leading the way in addressing its energy usage on a mass scale in the healthcare sector.
“Bupa UK has taken the refreshing approach of looking at the cost of inaction, rather than looking at the investment cost, and the completion of this project will allow them to operate on a much more sustainable level for years to come.”
www.bosch-industrial.co.uk - 21 -
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64