SUSTAINABILITY
If we lose the time before us, the future will ignore us...
Tina Reading, Editor Tina Reading, Editor, Lube Magazine
footprint and engage with the local community. These are not just words on a page but a vision that in just a few months will become normal day to day practice. But how is this possible?
GB Lubricants are taking huge strides in pursuing their desire to become more sustainable, reduce their CO2
Imagine a new power economy which harnesses the energy from the sun, the heat from within the Earth. Imagine clean energy without the need to burn anything. Jeremy Crooks (Head of Innovation, Coal Authority also known as Jez) was a TRUE visionary when, almost 3 years ago, he put forward the idea to use Gateshead’s redundant coal mines and turn them into a renewable energy source for Gateshead’s District Energy Scheme (DES), based in the North East of England. Working with Jim Gillon (Energy Service Lead) for Gateshead Council and colleagues at the Coal Authority, this is a story of how one team’s ingenuity will benefit generations to come.
Funded and owned by Gateshead Council, and operated by Gateshead Energy Company, the District Energy Scheme was built to serve Gateshead town centre’s current and future energy needs for decades to come, – it sets the blueprint for next-generation district energy, integrating heat and power generation and distribution, with energy storage, whilst providing national grid services.
Working with district energy experts WSP Ltd. the Council designed and procured the initial energy centre and wider network. Construction was by Balfour Beatty
Construction and began in June 2015, with Clancy Docwra beginning work on the underground heat and power network in January 2016. The 4MW (megawatt) of combined heat and power engines are installed and maintained by Edina UK Ltd. The Energy Centre was completed in March 2017 and has been providing heat and power to customers via a new 5km underground network of heat pipes and high voltage ‘private-wire’ electricity cables.
The Gateshead Energy Company, following a government grant of £5.9m, has now completed a 6MW minewater heat pump – the largest in the UK to date – on one of its Depots, on Shearlings Road. The firm has also created three boreholes in the Baltic Quarter where 140 litres – two bathfuls – of minewater per second can be pumped to extract the heat, returning cooler minewater back underground..
The scheme originated in 2010 from their ambition to provide low cost, low carbon energy for Gateshead town centre. All their customers receive at least a 5% discount compared to market energy tariffs. However, it has grown into a major infrastructure scheme that will underpin the future redevelopment of the town centre, stimulating inward investment
Continued on page 30 LUBE MAGAZINE NO.174 APRIL 2023 29
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