Vital Energi oversaw the task of connecting Shetland Heat & Power's Waste to Energy scheme to over 800 homes and 100 commercial buildings via 30km of district heating pipe.
Britain’s most northerly town, Lerwick is at the forefront of environmentally responsible energy provision. It enjoys its own advanced Waste to Energy (WTE) plant which provides heat and electricity to many of the area’s 8,000 inhabitants.
Crucial to this venture’s success however was the design, specification and implementation of an effective and dynamic distribution system. It was here that Vital Energi was able to help. As further evidence of the project’s innovative approach, it won the coveted Environment Award for Engineers 2000. This £6.5 million project has since become a benchmark against which many future CHP and District Energy schemes will be measured.
The large scale application of our full service capabilities and extensive experience. Connecting the WTE plant to the end-user was no simple task. However thanks to our full service capabilities and our extensive experience, Vital Energi was able to realise this demanding brief - from design of the proposed solution, through to its eventual delivery.
We began by designing in detail a Peak Load Boiler Station, which included its own pump station and a 2MW and a 6.5MW boilers. We then went on to oversee the construction, testing and bringing on-line of this advanced and highly functional facility. We also put in place the connection between this and the incinerator, and established the necessary cooling systems.
Over the years Vital Energi has supplied nearly 30km of pre-insulated pipework. This network of pipes allows the transfer of hot water from the boiler station to a large number of local properties – including over 800 homes and 100 community centres, schools, churches and commercial buildings. Following on from this, we sourced and installed state-of-the-art, ultrasonic heat meters, which would measure consumption amongst both Domestic and Commercial users. We also put in place an automatic data collection system for collating readings from each user.
