Gloucestershire Royal Hospital

To install the CHP system, we worked closed with the M&E specialist service partner, PIMS (Process Installations and Maintenance Services Ltd), to provide the M&E design and installation services for the CHP and associated ancillary equipment.

The design entailed the installation of a 2.5MWe CHP engine, plate heat exchange skids, a waste heat boiler, two hotwells and two DAC fans which was installed into the existing energy centre. The equipment was sized with consideration of the 24/7 energy demand of the hospital to ensure that this solution would be efficient to meet their requirements.

Significant improvements were also made to the building management system to improve the resilience and efficiency of the energy production. Additionally we installed a site wide metering system to control the system more efficiently, as well as providing more efficient monitoring in the future.

The scheme had a structured and inflexible six month delivery timescale which required precise planning to ensure on-target project implementation. With the necessity to handle some large items of plant and equipment, deliveries were scheduled with precision over a 24 hour period to prevent any disruption to the hospital's operation.

The delivery of the high voltage switchgear posed particular issues due to the 20 week delivery period, therefore we pre-scheduled the procurement prior to commencing onsite to abide by the strict timescales and align with the projected delivery plan.

The project required a lot of careful planning due to the necessity to install the scheme within and around existing live equipment, and to prevent any energy or operational disruption of the hospital. Therefore, we had to ensure that the new CHP system would be integrated into the hospital's high voltage and heating networks whilst maintaining heat and power supplies at all times.

We worked closely with the hospital to isolate sections of the high voltage network and install specific switchgear and protection equipment to allow the CHP to connect and disconnect to the network automatically. This proved challenging when testing the new system to ensure that there were no issues with the network and existing standby generation equipment.

We have entered into an Energy Performance Contract with the Trust which will guarantee them net financial savings of over £750,000 per annum and carbon emission reductions of 2,800 tonnes per annum over a 15 year term. Additionally, the project will be financed over a 15 year period which allows the Trust to see financial savings straight away without using any of their capital.

This agreement will also see us provide operation, maintenance and lifecycle services for the new CHP system, the existing steam and hot water boiler plants. Using our highly skilled in-house engineers, we will perform day-to-day active maintenance regimes, as well as providing reactive services should there be any issues.

We currently maintain 49 different sites and therefore have the knowledge and experience to provide a high quality service, assuring the client that the scheme shall operate as expected.