CARBON AND ENERGY REDUCTION
How geothermal energy can help Trusts hit Net Zero
Clive Nattrass, who is on secondment to the NHPower programme from the Carbon and Energy Fund, explains in this article how the programme is using collaboration to manage risks associated with Trusts progressing to Net Zero, while his colleague, the CEF’s Technical director, Stephen Lowndes, focuses on the opportunities for decarbonisation of natural gas at the point of use. Two colleagues from the energy sector, meanwhile, discuss the options for the wider deployment of geothermal energy technology across the NHS.
Part 1 Collaboration to meet NHS 2032 targets
Clive Nattrass, CEF
To meet 2032 targets the NHS needs to green most, if not all, of its top 211 CO2 fossil fuel emitters in under a decade – i.e.
the Trusts that use 10 m kWh or more of gas per annum. Since 1996 the NHS has been implementing carbon and energy reduction projects, and now we have exemplar ‘fossil fuel Net Zero’ hospitals emerging at Eastbourne, Bridlington and other locations. However, the challenge of ‘greening’ over 200 hospitals by 2032, in a time of low capital, challenged revenue budgets, and annual Government decarbonisation grants that are soft capped, cannot be overstated. Almost all technologies that would allow an NHS Trust to get to Net Zero involve risk. Even heat pump technology is in its early days, and has yet to prove its resilience at scale in a hospital environment – albeit introducing an additional annual running cost. NHS Trusts wishing to share risks
to reduce failure, costs, and project management overheads are able to collaborate through NHPower. Collaboration shares the risks of failure, so that no Member faces the ‘all or nothing’ risks associated with ‘cutting edge’ technology or unsuitable underground conditions. Collaborating Trusts would benefit from a knowledge-sharing forum with like-minded Members serving a common purpose, and would go forward together to share grant applications, procurement, finance, project management, technical support, site infrastructure upgrade preparation, and ongoing energy management.
Current available routes to Net Zero The Net Zero routes immediately available are few, and in essence include: 1 Geothermal energy. 2 Hydrogen. 3 Electricity.
Hospital
Local Authority District Major placenames
Permo-Triassic basins Pre-Permian basins Granites
Figure 1: Deep geothermal prospects in England, Scotland, and Wales, and NHS hospital sites with high heat demand. (See Part 3 of this article.)
4 Decarbonisation of gas at the point of use.
5 District energy. The large NHS emitters are being
categorised on the basis of the most suitable available route to Net Zero based on geography. This is because geothermal energy and hydrogen availability are
geographical, and based on the geology or socio infrastructure of a particular location. When mapped we can see that some
Trusts are in the enviable position of being close to hydrogen and geothermal energy sources purely by their location. Geothermal energy: All large emitter sites have been run through the British
May 2023 Health Estate Journal 29
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