SMO College Campus
Lowered into Energy Centre
Biomass Boiler Arriving
District Heating Pipework
Contract Value:
£206,000.00
Client:
SMO College
Timescale:
Sept 07 - Feb 09
Sabhal Mor Ostaig (SMO) is a Gaelic College located in an area of outstanding natural beauty on the Sleat peninsula on the Isle of Skye. A small but modern and innovative college, founded just 30 years ago, SMO is a provider of quality further and higher education and research opportunities. The running of the College is conducted in Scottish Gaelic - the only such college in the world.
"Many thanks to yourself and everyone at Vital Energi who has been involved in delivering such a successful contract and we look forward to a continued association with you in maintaining the biomass plant."
Donald A. MacLennan, Head of Estates & Services, SMO College
SMO has recently enhanced its facilities with the construction of a £8m resource centre for creative and cultural industries near to the existing campus. This development raised the issue of on-going heat supply to the fore. Heating and hot water to the college was previously supplied by a number of LPG fired boilers located in two separate plant rooms across the site. With fossil fuel prices continuing to rise, the college appointed Vital Energi to deliver a campus wide wood fuelled district heating scheme to provide heating and hot water to existing buildings and the new resource centre at a lower cost and in a more sustainable manner.
The scheme incorporates a 500kW biomass district heating system housed within a new energy centre and above and below ground heat distribution network all designed, installed by Vital Energi. Vital Energi organised for the complete energy centre installation to be manufactured off site as a packaged unit (wood chip boiler, thermal store and all associated mechanical and electrical controls) in order to minimise disruption on site. The pre-fabricated unit was then carefully lowered into the energy roof.
The heating and hot water from the energy centre is distributed and linked to three college buildings through a network of underground pre-insulated pipes connected to plate heat exchangers designed, supplied and installed by Vital Energi. The design of
this system allows buildings to be linked up to the system at a later date, benefiting from the environmental and financial benefits the installation provides.
In addition Vital Energi were responsible for the provision of suitable fuel storage by way of a 40m3 wood chip fuel store located next to the energy centre and also sourcing a local supplier for the wood chip based on specified quality and quantities, crucial to the efficiency and success of the scheme.
The system has been designed so that the wood fuel boiler will act as the lead boiler but the LPG boilers will remain in place to provide a ‘top up’ heating facility for times of high heating load and a 100% back up facility in case of emergencies.
Key Achievements:
Vital Energi has long championed the use of wood fuelled district heating solutions. With an increasing awareness of the harsh prospects for climate change, and the supply and price of fossil fuels, the requirement for sustainable, renewable energy has become vital in addressing the UK’s future energy needs. It is envisaged that the introduction of a wood fuelled heating system will reduce SMO’s annual heating costs by over 50% providing an annual saving of around £40,000 per annum compared with current LPG prices. It is also estimated that the scheme will result in annual carbon savings of around 361 tonnes per annum.
Conclusion
This is a flagship environmentally friendly scheme for the college and it is hoped that other organisations within the local area will realise the economic and environmental benefits of wood fuel which would allow the college to support a full-time wood chipping business.
