Ty Penrhos, a three-storey Hafod Care dementia care home in Caerphilly with a particularly high demand for both heat and power, ‘24 /7’, is benefiting from two forms of renewable energy supplied by Baxi Commercial.
A ‘mini-CHP system’ from Baxi- SenerTec UK generates electricity, and produces useful heat, while a solar water heating system from Andrews Water Heaters pre-heats domestic hot water. Building services were designed by McCann & Partners. Two Baxi-SenerTec Dachs gas-fired mini-CHP units act as lead boilers for the space heating system; each has an electrical output of 5.5 kW, and a minimum heat output of 12.5 kW. Using an optional condenser, the Dachs unit can produce up to 15.5 kW of heat. Where heat demand is unreliable, use of a buffer vessel can keep the unit running, and maintain the electricity supply, while avoiding engine wear and tear due to unnecessary shut-downs. In its first year’s operation, the Dachs system had run for 3,544 hours, generating approximately 49,000 kW of heat, and 19,400 kW of electricity. The heat generated also contributes indirectly to domestic hot water production via the space heating system. The equipment was installed by Whitehead Building Services. Four evacuated tube SOLARflo solar collectors on the pitched roof supply heat to a 450 litre twin-coil cylinder. These evacuated tube collectors are reportedly ‘ideal for larger commercial water heating applications’, with ‘a higher annual average thermal efficiency than glazed flat plate collectors and, operating at lower ambient temperatures, the ability to provide a higher annual percentage of domestic hot water’.
