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Posted on 22 Jun 2015

The new Centre is being named in memory of Ray Crampton, a senior engineer at the Hospital who championed the project.  It will provide a number of benefits; increased infrastructure resilience, saving energy, carbon and money.  

The Centre provides heating, hot water and electricity to the Hospital, generating 4.9 MegaWatts (MW) of thermal energy for heating and hot water and 1.2MW of electrical energy.  It includes three dualfuel boilers (gas and oil); a 1MW biomass boiler running on virgin wood and a single 1.2MW Combined Heat and Power (CHP) gas engine which will generate around 87% of the total electricity supply needs of the Hospital, requiring only a small amount of top up imported electricity, allowing for season demand variations. 

The new plant has a new control room and Building Management System and has converted to Low Temp Hot Water District Heating, reducing the temperature from 115oC to90oC,making the high grade energy system safer and more efficient. 

Around 8,000 tonnes of CO² will be saved each year.  For Nottinghamshire Healthcare, the Trust that runs the Hospital, this will provide a major contribution to its carbon reductions, enabling delivery of the Government's 34% cut carbon targets by 2020 – five years early. 

Included as part of the project, the Hospital's Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) built in the 1930s, has also been replaced with a modern automated plant designed to meet current environmental standards and accommodate abnormal loads or future site expansion.  

Overall, the total investment for the new Energy Centre and ETP is in the region of £5m.One of the main objectives of the scheme is to save money recurrently for the Trust and it is anticipated that it will deliver savings by halving our fuel costs saving £730k, and providing an additional contracted guaranteed savings of £52k per year. 

Ruth Hawkins, Chief Executive said:  “I am delighted to see the completion of this project and the many benefits this new Centre will bring.  This new efficient and resilient system will enable us to be much more energy efficient and sustainable whilst making significant financial savings which can be invested back into services for patients.” 

Cofely was the selected contractor for the works and is bound by a Carbon Energy Fund (CEF) contract which specifies guaranteed carbon and energy savings.  The capital funding for this scheme is provided through Cofely and will be repaid over a fixed 15 year term.The contract is structured around performance with deductions being made if the contractor fails to meet the guaranteed energy savings. 

The Boiler Replacement Project team was led and managed by the Trust's Capital Planning Unit and comprised Rampton Facilities, Sustainability and Finance teams. The scheme has been shortlisted in the Value and Improvement in Energy Efficiency category of the HSJ Value in Healthcare Awards 2015. 

The Ray Crampton Energy Centre will be declared officially open by Ray's widow Denise and his children at a special event on Friday 29 May.