Careful design and commissioning essential

According to combined heat and power system manufacturer, SenerTec, CHP is ‘highly suitable for applications with a 24/7 demand for heating and hot water, such as hospitals’. The installation of a SenerTec Dachs Mini-CHP unit at the newly built Cockermouth Community Hospital & Health Centre in Cumbria demonstrates, in the company’s words, ‘the benefits of CHP in healthcare applications’, but also highlights the importance of correct design and commissioning and ongoing monitoring. Gary Stoddart, the company’s general manager, explains. 

In the Government’s 2015 Autumn Statement the Chancellor reiterated that the NHS in England is expected to make £22 billion in efficiency savings. While we appreciate that this figure relates to far more than just energy efficiency, making improvements to a hospital’s heating and hot water system can result in significant operational cost savings, and, of course, reduces carbon emissions too. The UK’s healthcare sector spends more than £400 million per year on energy, according to the Carbon Trust.1 Its data also reveals that heating can account for as much as 60 per cent of a typical building’s total energy bill, while electricity already accounts for over 50 per cent of a hospital’s energy costs – and with increased use of specialist medical equipment that generally relies on electricity, consumption is set to increase. 

CHP has a major role to play in improving the efficiency of UK buildings, particularly those with high and continuous year-round heating loads like hospitals; because of their long running hours, these buildings can achieve the most efficient operation using the technology.