BSEE
John Hyde, head of product sales – CHP at Centrica Business Soluons looks at how the last decade has seen a major shi in the business sector’s atude towards environmental performance. Once a ‘nice to have’ pursuit for consumerfriendly brands, energy eciency has become a core opportunity for businesses to deliver compeve advantage and create new revenue streams
T
o accelerate Britain’s commitment to achieving a low-carbon global economy, this autumn saw the Government celebrate the first ever Green GB
Week. Alongside the launch of a new fund to support green technology growth in the UK, the initiative was a reminder of how far British businesses still have to go to meet the energy efficiency targets set out in last year’s Clean Growth Strategy.
uInside Centrica’s CHP manufacturing plant in Salford
In the strategy, the government outlined ambitions for UK businesses to reduce their net carbon output by 20 per cent by 2030. For the public sector, a voluntary target of a 30 per cent reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 to 2021 was announced. While this might seem a potentially daunting prospect in a world where demand for energy is growing, the shift towards distributed energy – where power generation is moved away from large centralised power plants – demonstrates how new energy technologies can help businesses improve their energy performance and carbon footprint in turn. Energy-intense sectors like healthcare, industry and hospitality provide a clear indication of the role distributed energy could play in the next decade. We recently conducted a study to see how these sectors might fare if just half of the businesses involved adopted new energy technology like battery storage or solar power. We found that each of these three key sectors could achieve more than half of their Clean Growth Strategy targets. In the healthcare sector, for example, a switch to distributed energy technology would mean annual emissions cuts equivalent to 16 per cent of the NHS’s current energy-related carbon footprint.
While the environmental argument for investing in distributed energy
solutions is a clear one, limited knowledge of the technologies involved within businesses means that organisations aren’t always able to easily identify the right way forward. A first key step in this process is to begin monitoring and auditing energy use through sensor technology. Having an overview of performance will not only help shape an energy strategy but also inform which energy solutions are most appropriate for a given business. One of the most popular energy technologies available is combined heat and power (CHP), and we’re seeing more and more firms invest in it as they develop an energy strategy.
What is CHP?
Powered by an engine, a CHP unit converts a single fuel source into power and heat simultaneously on-site.
Typically using low-priced and widely available natural gasses as fuel (or more specialist fuels such as biogas), the engine within the CHP is linked to a generator to produce electricity. Heat is recovered from the engine’s exhaust, jacket, and water and oil cooling circuit at the same time, providing an instant and cost-efficient heat supply.
What are the benefits of CHP?
Sustainability and operational resilience are increasingly board-level concerns. CHP technology provides a reliable and efficient energy supply for firms generating their energy on-site, ensuring continuity regardless of what’s happening on the Grid. Their flexible nature also means that they can be ramped up and down based on demand, enabling them to replace more carbon-intensive generation technologies. As well as security of supply and increased resilience, another major benefit for businesses is the cost saving offered by ultra-efficient CHPs. Firms using the technology have been able to lower their energy bills by up to 40 per cent, allowing them to reinvest capital elsewhere to focus on growth. CHP units have a typical lifespan of up to 15 years, but payback is usually only between three and five years, meaning that savings can be made long after the technology has paid for itself. In some situations, it’s also possible to generate revenues from a CHP unit if a business sells excess energy back to the Grid.
The technology can also be used to facilitate demand side response (DSR), a vital and expanding component of the evolving grid where businesses are financially incentivised to lower or shift their electricity use at peak times. This will help manage load and voltage profiles on the electricity network.
Horses for courses
Given its advantages, CHP has been adopted by a range of sectors. Typically, more energy-intensive industries and those with high heat demands benefit the most, including manufacturing, leisure and hospitality, grocery, healthcare and higher education.
Businesses can opt for one of two 32 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER JANUARY 2019
RENEWABLES Powering the low carbon economy
types of CHP unit, depending on their energy use and needs. The first is a large scale custom-built plant, which can generate between 1MWe and 2.5MWe of energy. This type of CHP is typically suitable for large hospitals and industrial businesses. The second are smaller-scale, packaged CHP units, which usually generate between 25kWe and 1MWe. These are often designed and supplied as complete units and selected to meet site requirements, to closely match the energy demand of the business’ facility. They are more typically suited to leisure centres, hotels, energy centres and smaller industrial-sized businesses.
When choosing a CHP, ensuring its size closely matches demand is vital. A CHP that is too small will operate at maximum output, and additional energy and emissions savings will be missed. CHPs that are too large for a facility will operate below full output rating and at a lower efficiency, meaning potential savings will be minimised.
The decade ahead
The demand for CHP is set to grow as we race towards 2030, but ensuring this type of energy solution delivers the return on investment desired requires insight, planning and clearly defined objectives. If businesses are to build a greener future whilst protecting their economic performance, energy must become a core part of their strategy.
www.centrica.com ‘ Energyintense
sectors like healthcare, industry and hospitality provide a clear indicaon of the role distributed energy could play in the next decade
’
uTwo CHP units installed by Centrica at St George’s Hospital in Toong, South London
Case study S
t George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the largest healthcare provider in South West London, treating around 800,000 patients each year. The Trust partnered with Centrica Business Solutions to create a new energy strategy for the hospital as part of a 15-year Energy Performance Contract (EPC). The contract includes the installation of two CHP units and four boilers, which form the energy centre. Centrica Business Solutions also introduced a number of schemes across the site, including lighting, a building management system, chiller replacement and split unit air conditioning optimisation.
The Trust is now guaranteed to save more than £1million a year during the 15-year contract and will also save 6,000 tonnes of carbon each year – the equivalent of taking 3,000 cars off the road. The savings will allow the Trust to invest more in-patient care and teaching medical staff whilst acting as an environmental benchmark for other healthcare providers.
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