Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/961476
The Wyndford Estate is home to one of the UK's largest retrofit heat network schemes, providing on-demand low carbon heating and hot water to more than 1,800 homes and saving 7,000 tonnes of CO2 each year. The homes included in the scheme were all heated by electric storage heaters which are less energy efficient and more costly than the new system being installed. The heat network and combined heat and power (CHP) plant had been designed to deliver low carbon energy in a cost effective manner. At the core of the pioneering Wyndford scheme is a bespoke energy centre which comprises a 1.2MW CHP engine and a thermal store with a capacity of 120,000 litres. Three 4500kW gas boilers provide back-up and peak load heat requirements. The electricity generated by the CHP engine is exported to the local electricity grid, with around 2.7km of underground pipes distributing hot water from the energy centre to the individual buildings connected to the heat network. The Wyndford scheme is playing a huge role in helping the city of Glasgow meet its ambitious 30 per cent carbon reduction target, with a report published by SSE in June 2016 showing the scheme has delivered a 62 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions since it was installed. Tenants are expected to save up to 25 per cent on their fuel bills. The system was installed by SSE in partnership with Cube Housing Association in 2012 and Edina, who supplied and installed the CHP technology. The first of its kind and scale in the North East, the futuristic- looking District Energy Centre houses a small but highly- efficient power station which will generate and supply lower- carbon, lower cost energy for up to 350 local homes, as well as public buildings and businesses, via a new 2.5km heat network and high voltage 'private-wire' electricity cables. As lead consultant, WSP delivered a technical feasibility study and financial appraisal in 2013, developed and designed the energy centre, and continued to manage the project throughout construction. The combined heat and power (CHP) plant, supplied and installed by Edina, is powered by two 2MWe natural gas engines and generates enough electricity to power 5,000 homes and uses the recovered waste heat created during the energy generation process to provide heat directly to customers. The first buildings to take advantage of the energy centre include Sage Gateshead, Gateshead Civic Centre, Gateshead College, BALTIC, as well as high rise council housing blocks in central Gateshead. The energy centre will meet all the energy needs for future developments planned for Gateshead town centre. Significantly, the scheme provides the low-carbon energy infrastructure which will underpin the redevelopment of the 21-hectare Baltic Business Quarter business development site and wider Gateshead Quays. Major housing developments at the former Freightliner site and the new Exemplar Neighbourhood – an area between the Felling bypass and the former Chandless estate where up to 1,000 new homes are planned – are also planned to be supplied from the Energy Centre. Leader of Gateshead Council, Martin Gannon, said: "This is an important project which will give our area a real cutting edge. Our District Energy Centre is twice as efficient as a conventional power station, and far greener, and we can pass on some of those cost efficiencies to local people and businesses in the form of cheaper heat and power. This alone will make a real difference to customers' energy costs. "However, the commercial advantages offered by cheap heat and power will be obvious to incoming businesses and we believe this is likely to drive up demand for business space here in Gateshead, something that should help to generate much- needed new jobs." NETWORK / 22 / APRIL 2018 W Y N D FO R D E S TAT E , G L A S G O W G AT E S H E A D E N E R GY C E N T R E HEAT NET WORKS