Although traditionally healthcare sector CHP systems have been confined to high capacity plant serving major facilities, more recently ‘lower capacity, more responsive CHP engines’ have enabled smaller facilities to harness the technology.
So says heating and ventilating solutions specialist, SAV Systems; it says such projects’ success depends on maximising the CHP’s share of the heat and electrical energy supplied, by using responsive, modulating CHP units, rather than fixed output plant. The company added: “The bigger the energy share from the CHP, the greater the carbon and cost savings. For example, at the MRD/HART ambulance station in Ashford, an SAV 6-15 kWe/17-30 kWth LoadTracker modulating CHP unit is providing around a 41% share of site electricity demand, over 200,000 kWh of heat production per annum, and a 31 tonne annual CO2 emission reduction.
“Similarly, two of the same units at Musselburgh Primary Care Centre, in cascade configuration, are meeting a 31% share of electricity demand, with over 296,000 kWh of annual heat production, and an annual 45 tonne CO2 reduction.”
SAV Systems adds that ‘unlike traditional CHP, modulating CHP can track the site’s electrical demand and modulate accordingly’. It added: “The resulting maximised CHP run-times make a bigger contribution to the site’s electricity and heat requirements than with fixed output CHP.”
