Multi-million pound 'green makeover' for two acute hospitals with use of the NHS Carbon and Energy Fund framework.

Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has appointed UK energy management and combined heat and power (CHP) specialist ENER-G to modernise its energy infrastructure across two acute hospitals, by utilising the Carbon and Energy Fund framework, funding, process and contract.

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In a £6.3 million green makeover of Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge Hospitals, ENER-G will design, build and operate new high efficiency, low carbon infrastructure comprising natural gas CHPs, lighting, pumps, chillers, boiler plant and water saving measures. Completion of the installation works will be in late summer 2014.

Utilising the specialist long term funding made available through the Carbon and Energy Fund, the 15-year contract is guaranteed to deliver gross annual cost savings of £1.2m. It will also reduce the Trust’s carbon footprint by approximately 6,200 tonnes per year across the two sites. This is equivalent to the environmental benefit of removing 3,900 cars from the road, or the carbon sequestered annually by 5,082 acres of forest.

Following the approved OJEU selection process, ENER-G were appointed as the delivery partner. By completing an extensive energy audit of the sites and computer modelling, they were able to specify the best combination of energy efficient solutions to maximise financial and environmental savings for the Trust. ENER-G will integrate multiple technologies into the scheme by combining a range of demand-side measures with CHP to achieve total projected energy savings of around 30%.

Each of the two sites will have new lighting schemes, with a combined total of nearly 7,000 highly efficient LED and fluorescent light fittings – designed to displace up to 9% of the current electrical demand on site. Further energy efficiency improvements will reduce the electrical load by an additional 1%.

Combined heat and power will be the cornerstone of the energy efficient infrastructure at both hospitals. The systems have been sized to allow for the 10% electrical reduction from demand-side energy improvements, ensuring maximum operational efficiency of the CHP.

At Arrowe Park Hospital, a 1710kWe CHP system – designed and manufactured by ENER-G in the UK – will be installed within the existing boiler house area. The CHP will interface with all the main hospital plant rooms and the existing absorption chillers to maximise the utilisation of the recovered heat from the CHP and provide both heating and cooling. The CHP system will displace up to 70% of the site’s electrical and thermal demands.

At Clatterbridge Hospital, ENER-G will design, install and operate a new energy centre in the old boiler house – containing new, high efficiency boilers and all the equipment to distribute thermal energy across the site. A 770kWe ENER-G containerised CHP unit will also be installed – displacing up to 60% of Clatterbridge’s electrical and thermal demands.

The energy services contract was tendered and supported through the Carbon and Energy Fund (CEF), which provides participating Trusts with specialist expertise, rapid project deployment, and access to capital funding that is recovered over a 15-year contract period through guaranteed cost savings that are underwritten by the appointed contractor. As an approved contractor within the CEF framework, ENER-G will design, build, finance and operate with financial support from the Cooperative Bank.

David Hounslea, Director of Estates and Facilities for Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “This ambitious project will reduce the carbon footprint at our two acute hospitals by approximately 30% and will be financed through the energy savings we generate. This scheme builds on existing energy efficiency projects, which have already reduced the Trust’s carbon dioxide emissions by 14,000 tonnes per year since 1999.”

Alan Barlow, Managing Director of ENER-G Combined Power Ltd, said: “Our specialist healthcare team has delivered integrated energy projects across more than 50 hospitals. We are delighted to work with the Wirral team to help them achieve further improvements in energy efficiency. At a time of budgetary pressures and ambitious targets on carbon reduction, ENER-G can provide proven expertise in replacing dated plant with state-of-the art low and zero carbon alternatives that place no financial burden on hospitals or UK tax-payers.”

According to the NHS Sustainable Development Unit’s report, CHP offers NHS England the most significant impact on operational costs and carbon. CHP is a highly efficient form of on-site energy generation. It provides the simultaneous generation of electricity and heat – contrasting with conventional power generation, where the generated heat is wasted and further losses of approximately 7% occur in transporting the electricity from remote power stations to end users. CHP can achieve cost savings of up to 40% over electricity sourced from the grid and heat generated by on-site boilers.

Further information www.energ.co.uk/chp www.carbonandenergyfund.net www.wuth.nhs.uk

Source: ENER-G