for Eastbourne Hospital
FACILITIES MANAGEMENT Upgrade cuts carbon
Global resource management company Veolia has been awarded a £27m energy management contract to upgrade the 459-bed Eastbourne District General Hospital. An energy plant upgrade will include a heat pump system to deliver 3.2 MWth of low carbon heat
Ask the Expert
Will Darby, managing director or Carlo Gavazzi UK, explains why accurate metering will be needed under government plans to maximise home grown energy generation
Energy prices rocketed following the global surge in demand from economies recovering after the COVID- 19 pandemic. The situation has been made worse by the conflict in Ukraine, which has reduced supplies of gas to Europe sending natural gas prices soaring. With over 35% of the UK’s electricity generated using gas, the impact is significant.
What is the UK government doing to limit the impact of gas price rises?
Gas prices are set by international markets over which the UK has no control, so in April [2022] the government announced plans to boost the UK’s homegrown generating capacity to help stabilise prices and improve energy security with publication of the British Energy Security Strategy.
This includes a commitment to clean energy and accelerating the deployment of
renewables. It could see as much as 95% of Great Britain’s electricity low carbon by 2030. While the plans include new nuclear, they also include: an ambition for up to 50GW of offshore wind by 2030; plans to work with communities to host onshore wind; and plans to increase the current 14GW of solar capacity to 70GW by 2035.
What will be the impact of increasing the proportion of renewable-generated electricity on the grid?
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At the moment fossil fuel-powered generating capacity can be turned on and off to meet demand. Renewables cannot be switched on and off and so energy will have to be harvested through technologies such as battery storage, for example, when renewables are generating. It will also mean that energy use will have to be minimised when renewables are unable to generate. Battery storage is becoming more sophisticated with the introduction of giant grid- parallel energy storage systems. Many of these include a Carlo Gavazzi energy meter to monitor and measure power import/export, so the system knows when to charge or discharge the battery.
he contract, which extends to 2040, includes a multi-million pound construction project during 2023 that will deliver wide ranging energy upgrades and target carbon savings of 4,129 tonnes per year. Delivered through Veolia’s Building a Zero Carbon Future programme, with funding
provided through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme for affordable, low carbon energy efficiency upgrades across the public sector, the scheme is one of the first to take
a whole building approach. This utilises a holistic approach that accounts for how facilities and the energy delivery systems interact with each other, while maintaining an indoor environment that enhances patient care. A secure energy supply is essential to maintain a modern patient care environment for the hospital which has 457 beds and treats more than 470,000 patients per year. To meet this energy demand and achieve carbon and energy cost savings Veolia will manage projects covering the design, delivery, and installation of a range of energy upgrades. These will guarantee the hospital meets the NHS carbon reduction targets for 2030 and is supported by a 24/7 operations and maintenance contract. The energy plant upgrades include desteaming the site, solar arrays giving a total of 1.1MWp
renewable electricity, improved ventilation systems, and a dual stage heat pump system to supply 3.2 MWth of low carbon heat with N+1 redundancy that gives system availability in the event of component failure. To ensure that this heat is efficiently used the project covers fitting of 17,300m2 of insulated roofing, replacing older single glazed windows with 4,540m2 of high efficiency double glazing, and 12,972 m2 of insulating cladding. Commenting on this latest development, John Abraham, Chief Operating Officer - Veolia UK
& Ireland - Industrial, Water & Energy said: “Using the whole holistic building approach is part of our Building a Zero Carbon Future programme, and is key to advancing healthcare energy efficiency, cutting carbon emissions and providing cost savings that can be redirected to patient care. By targeting annual carbon savings of 4,129 tonnes, we are actively supporting the NHS decarbonisation programme and delivering lower cost energy for the healthcare sector. “We look forward to working with the teams at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust and helping them achieve their environmental goals.” Chris Hodgson, director of estates and facilities at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “This project will make a significant contribution to the trust’s goals to reduce our organisational carbon footprint. As well as the significant carbon savings that the project will deliver, the additional cladding and insulation to the hospital will create a more comfortable environment for both our patients and our staff”. Veolia has been working with East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust since 2009, and currently
provides energy and facilities management to over 100 hospitals in the UK. These support the healthcare for around 8.1 million inpatients each year, and reduce CO2 emissions in the healthcare sector by 120,000 tonnes.
In becoming the benchmark company for ecological transformation, Veolia is committed to tackle climate change, resource depletion, biodiversity collapse, and pollution. By expanding the use of existing solutions, and developing new innovative solutions, the company is accelerating the process to radically change patterns of production and consumption and placing ecology at the heart of every process.
Read the latest at:
www.bsee.co.uk
What will be the impact of the growth in electric vehicles on the grid?
If you think of electric vehicles as battery storage systems on wheels, these too can be used to store excess power generated by grid-renewables. Smart electric vehicle charging points can vary the charge rate of the vehicle’s battery in response to power available.
The amount of power consumed by a charging vehicle needs to be metered to ensure fair and accurate cost allocation for the energy used. For three phase applications, Carlo Gavazzi’s EM340 or EM24-E1 energy analysers are the perfect solution. Both meters are MID certified making them suitable for cost allocation and sub-metering. For residential charge point applications, Carlo Gavazzi’s single phase energy meters and analysers EM111 and EM112 are suitable for metering and can measure imported and exported energy.
Alongside battery storage what other technologies could boost UK energy security?
The Energy Security Strategy also includes an initiative to encourage the use of electric heat pumps to “reduce demand for gas”. For single phase heat pump metering applications, Carlo Gavazzi’s EM100 series of energy meters offer a cost effective, compact and MID certified solution to measure heat pump electricity consumption. While the EM300 series is an MID certified meter for 3-phase commercial and domestic applications. For more information on Carlo Gavazzi’s metering solutions go to
www.carlogavazzi.co.uk.
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