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Scheme Summary
St
Pancras Housing installed a combined heat and power system into St Richards
House and Hillwood house which enabled them to take over the supply of
electricity to the 95 dwellings, the 10 commercial units and their own
offices.
Scheme Details
St Richards House and Hillwood house provide a total of 95 one, two and
three bedroom flats, and bedsits. The complex also includes St Pancras
Housing's own head office, 10 commercial units and an elderly person's
community centre. Existing boiler plant and distribution systems for the
two buildings were totally separate and the boilers themselves were old
and in need of replacing. St Pancras Housing took the opportunity to replace
these with one combined heat and power (CHP) unit and new boilers, at
the same time linking the two distribution systems together to form one
integrated system. The table below provides further information on the
CHP unit.
| Technical
details - CHP unit |
| Boilers |
4
x 200 kW modular units |
| Electrical
output: |
54
kWe |
| Heat
output: |
97
kWe |
| Commissioned: |
August
1995 |
| Supplier: |
Combined
Power Systems Ltd |
With the
installation of the CHP system, St Pancras Housing took over responsibility
for supplying electricity to both the commercial and domestic tenants,
who had previously been billed individually by London Electricity. Tenants
are now billed directly by St. Pancras Housing. This is made possible
by the installation of modern electronic meters which are linked to a
computer billing system in St Pancras Housing's offices. Any extra demand
for electricity which the CHP unit cannot meet is provided by a single
London Electricity supply to St Pancras Housing. The increased efficiency
of the CHP unit means that the installation will produce 275 tonnes less
CO2 per year which is a 20% reduction for the site. 650,000 kWh of primary
energy will also be saved each year.
Cost Implications
The installation of the CHP Unit was part financed by a grant from the
Residential CHP Programme. This Programme was managed by the Combined
Heat and Power Association (CHPA) agency on behalf of the Energy Saving
Trust. The Residential CHP Programme is however no longer running. The
total cost of the project was £267,000 and a further breakdown of
these costs is shown in the table below.
| CHP
plant |
£ 42,000 |
| Electrical
services, including new metering |
£
100,000 |
| Up-rated
gas supply |
£
10,000 |
| Site
preparation and civil work |
£
24,000 |
| New
boilers and flue system |
£
30,000 |
| Linking
of distribution systems |
£
24,000 |
| Adaptation
of plant rooms, insulation etc |
£
49,000 |
| Total: |
£
267,000 |
The payback
period for the elements of the system which are directly related to the
CHP unit is approximately 7 years. The entire refurbishment project payback
period is predicted to be 9.5 years.
The
sale of power to the tenants gives St Pancras Housing an additional income
stream and also means that domestic and commercial tenants benefit from
a reduction in their electricity costs. The tenants have chosen to take
their savings by having no standing charges.
St
Pancras Housing's Opinion
"As
always with pioneering projects, there were hurdles to be overcome. We
had to develop a billing system and institute procedures for collection
of income.
We
would certainly be keen to either repeat this type of operation or extend
it given the right circumstances. We have learned valuable lessons regarding
the bulk purchasing and selling of energy which will help us plan possible
bulk buying from 1998."
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John Bird, Senior Building Surveyor.
Contact:
John Bird, Senior Building Surveyor,
St Pancras Housing Association,
St Richard's House,
110 Eversholt Street,
London NW1 1BS.
Tel: 020 7209 9222
Fax: 020 7209 9223
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