ENERGY AND CARBON SAVINGS


Decarbonising the NHS with smart, flexible, resilient tech


The Energy Trilemma – an affordable, sustainable, and secure power supply – is a pressing global issue, and in the UK, this is nowhere more urgent than in the NHS. Budget constraints are at their tightest, energy prices are at their highest, and the sector has some of the most stringent targets for reaching Net Zero. Andrew Donald, senior Business Development manager at Powerstar, looks at the funding that can help Trusts transition to clean energy, and the technology available to reduce costs, lower emissions, and ensure the secure power supply so vital to public health.


The British Medical Journal1 recently noted


that NHS Trusts are being forced to find as much as an additional £2 m a month over the winter to cope with energy price rises – for some Trusts, equating to more than a 200% increase in gas and electricity budgeting for 2022-2023. This makes the government commitment to continue funding to help decarbonise the estate more welcome than ever – largely through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) and, since September last year, its latest phase – Phase 3b, focusing on heating system upgrades, to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and support the move to cleaner, and cheaper, renewable energy sources. While this latest round of PSDS funding highlights heating as a crucial aspect of decarbonisation, with heating replacement an essential component for any application, the overarching emphasis is true to the ethos of the Scheme, and energy efficiency is still at its core. Successful applications from previous rounds of PSDS demonstrate the synergy between heating


replacement and other, complementary, energy-saving strategies. For example, one London Trust secured £10 m for heat pump, solar, and battery installation, and upgrades to lighting, while Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was awarded around £500,000 to install an air source heat pump, with battery storage and electrical upgrades to support lower carbon emissions. Crucially, when considering a holistic energy management and decarbonisation strategy, this combination of heat pump technology with solar, renewable generation, and battery energy storage, can help offset any increase in electrical demand from the new heat system, while also giving Trusts greater flexibility and improved options for energy management.


Modern Battery Energy Storage Systems In the context of the Energy Trilemma, a modern Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), especially when combined with a smart microgrid and control system,


really comes into its own. The ambitious decarbonising targets for the NHS – a commitment to achieving Net Zero by 2045 – place heavy demands on a beleaguered health service, and the pressures of affordability and security of energy supply are just as pressing as this legally binding journey to carbon neutrality. The need for emergency power, in case of any disruption to the Grid supply, is critical to the safe running of the NHS, but older technology – traditional Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) – is fast becoming untenable in the current economic and geopolitical landscape. Trusts are increasingly moving to BESS technology, to help reduce emissions and harness the many benefits this technology offers – specifically, the capacity to earn new revenue to offset energy price increases, and to make the most of locally generated renewable energy. The cheapest, and ‘greenest’ unit of energy is the one you don’t use, and battery storage is already giving Trusts across the UK the ability to manage energy from multiple sources with affordability, sustainability, and security of supply.


Security of energy, but with significant costs A traditional UPS offers security of energy supply to vital equipment, providing the necessary seamless transition from mains electricity to back-up supply in the event of any disruption. However, this security comes with significant costs – energy losses that have always proved expensive, alongside unnecessary carbon emissions. Despite being idle most of the time, a traditional UPS will be constantly switching between AC and DC, typically losing between 10 and 15% capacity. For an average hospital installation, this can mean a waste of more than £260,000, and a needless increase in CO2


e of about 210 Understanding Demand Side Response.


tonnes. By contrast, a BESS will protect an entire site, rather than just individual pieces of equipment, while consuming about 90% less electricity.


January 2023 Health Estate Journal 61


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