Dalkia celebrates powering healthcare

Published: 26-Feb-2014

Company marks 75th year with contract win at West Midlands hospital

Dalkia has marked its 75th anniversary of providing energy to the healthcare sector with a contract win at Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield.

The 15-year contract, valued at £5.4m, will see the hospital’s energy plant upgraded with a new combined heat and power (CHP) unit. The CHP will account for a reduction in CO2 of 2,650 tonnes and a yearly £290,000 utility cost saving.

Part of the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Good Hope Hospital is a 600-bed acute and general hospital in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands. With its 35-year-old energy centre and lack of a modern energy plant, the hospital was in need of a new facility to improve its carbon and energy performance. It turned to Dalkia for a self-funding solution with guaranteed performance over the contract term.

The installation at Good Hope Hospital comprises a 1,160kWe CHP plant, a 5t/h waste heat combination boiler, CHP heat recovery system and associated infrastructure. Annually, the CHP engine unit will provide 9,400 MW/h of electricity and 9,100 MW/h of heat, using natural gas as a primary fuel source. The heat that is produced as a result of the electrical generation process is recovered by the CHP system and conducted to the new waste heat boiler where it is used to produce steam and low temperature hot water for heating and domestic hot water top-ups. While most of the electric and thermal energy is distributed out to the hospital’s facilities, any surplus energy is exported to the National Grid when appropriate.

“The carbon and utility cost savings that Good Hope Hospital will gain from the new energy centre in the first three years will offset the initial capital outlay for buying the equipment”, said Martin Hazel, Dalkia operations manager for the Midlands region.

David Lively, estates officer at the trust, added: “To Good Hope Hospital, the new CHP plant is a step forward in implementing our sustainability development programme and achieving the carbon sustainability targets set by the NHS. The installation of a similar plant at another trust hospital provided operating data in support of the business case for such a unit at Good Hope. In the future, we are expecting to see similarly successful results here; the estimate shows that we will be able to save 2,650 tonnes of carbon and some £290,000 in cost annually.”

The project is expected to be complete in March.

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