Combined Heat and Power at Loughborough University
In order to reduce carbon emissions the University has 2 gas fired Combined Heat and Power units (CHP’s) with a third due to be installed in 2010/11.
CHP is the generation of thermal and electrical energy in a single process. In this way, optimum use can be made of the energy available from the fuel.
Figure 1 - A typical PowerStation uses around 35% of its fuel to create electricity, the other 65% is released as heat into the environment. This makes a typical power station around 35% efficient.
Figure 2 - A CHP uses around 40% of its fuel to create electricity but instead of the heat being released into the environment, the majority can be used to heat buildings via a district heating system. This makes a CHP around 80% efficient.
The 500kW gas fired CHP at Pilkington Library was
commissioned in 2007. It is designed to provide electricity into the main electricity ring of the university and provides heat to a number of Village Court accommodation blocks as well as heating and cooling
to Library. This unit has reduced the university’s carbon emissions by 354 tonnes of CO2 per year.
The automatic metering systems that has been installed allows monitoring of the performance of the plant and provides the data to allow the controls to be ‘fine tuned‘ to ensure operation at optimum efficiency.
The project has been registered with the CHP Quality Assurance (CHPQA) scheme. The performance data is used to verify the annual CHPQA submission.
The CHP at Holywell Park was commissioned in 2008.
It is a gas fired CHP designed to give 1 MW of electricity and 1.2MW of heat from a single gas fired engine. The electricity generated is used by Holywell Park and Sports Park. The heat generated is used to provide heating and cooling to Holywell Park In its first year the CHP saves around 1,000tonnes of CO2, and supplies approximately 15% of the total campus Electricity consumption.
“The Universities third gas fired CHP was commissioned in August 2011. This CHP provides 1.6MW of Electricity and 1.63MW of Heat. We are Anticipating an annual saving of £340,000 and a reduction in emissions of 2,250 tonnes. This CHP will provide approximately 25% of the University site Electricity load.
The Heat from this CHP is fed into the University’s district heating system, this feeds a large number of buildings across Central Park, Village Park and East Park.”
