The £9.7m project to refurbish the Energy Generation Centre (formerly known as the incinerator), next to the Estates building on Kirby Way, is now fully operational.
The two-year energy project has provided Hillingdon Hospital with hot water and heating.
The Energy Generation Centre includes an incinerator that burns different types of waste at extremely high temperatures (over 1,000 degrees) until the waste is reduced to ash.
The two-year energy project has provided Hillingdon Hospital with hot water and heating
The waste the incinerator disposes of includes clinical waste that is produced in the main hospital as well as medicines and sharps containers.
The steam the incinerator produces as a by-product is then captured and converted into energy that fuels the heating and hot water for staff and patients in Hillingdon Hospital.
For this project, Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has teamed with a new partner, Medisort and is also working with the Environment Agency to make sure that the process is done correctly and within regulations.
Steve Wedgwood, Director of operational estates and facilities, said: “The former incinerator was closed down around four years ago but this project, in conjunction with the Environment Agency, has seen it brought back to life.”
The waste the incinerator disposes of includes clinical waste that is produced in the main hospital
"Patient clinical waste gets disposed of just across the road from the main hospital - so that's better for the environment – and it’s safer as well," Wedgwood continued.
“As well as saving a huge amount of money, the Centre will bring extra benefits to the Trust as well,” Wedgwood explained.
“Medisort runs the plant and it means the Trust has steam that we didn't have before taking the pressure off our boilers. Meanwhile, patient clinical waste gets disposed of just across the road from the main hospital - so that's better for the environment – and it’s safer as well,” Wedgwood further explained.
The steam the incinerator produces as a by-product is then captured and converted into energy
"And there are other things we get as well such as a new rental income for what was essentially a large empty building, and our waste is disposed of for free,” Wedgwood continued.
"Beyond that, the extra tonnage that is available to sell to go through the Energy Generation Centre (other than our waste) is available to the NHS and to the wider private and public waste market,” Wedgwood concluded.
