Senertec has welcomed a report from the Sustainable Development Unit (SDU) for NHS England and Public Health England that shows switching to Combined Heat and Power (CHP) is likely to save the NHS £26.4 million a year.

Gary Stoddart, general manager at SenerTec comments: “CHP has a huge role to play in improving the efficiency of UK buildings, particularly those with high and continuous, year-round heating loads like hospitals; because of the long running hours, these buildings can achieve the most efficient operation.

“Last month’s ‘Securing Healthy Returns’ report from the Sustainable Development Unit (SDU) for NHS England and Public Health England, analysed 35 sustainability measures that it says could achieve a total £400 million of cost savings. Out of 18 energy-saving saving measures covered in the report, CHP provides the highest annual potential cost savings at £26.4m, ranking above staff energy awareness and behavioural change (£21.5m), and significantly higher than high-efficiency lighting (£7.2m) and reducing temperature set points by 1 degree Celsius (£6.2m). “Furthermore, in 2015 it was reported that Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust has made savings of £10 million since 2009 by installing CHP.

“According to the SDU, CHP has the potential to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 3,750 tonnes a year across the NHS – the equivalent of removing 1,250 cars from the road, the carbon dioxide offset of a forest more than three times the size of Sherwood, or the salaries of more than 1,200 newly qualified registered nurses.

“These savings can be achieved because on-site CHP is approximately 30 per cent more efficient than relying on traditional heating plant and electricity supplied solely from the grid, and costs three or four times less. In conventional electricity generation vast amounts of energy is lost because ‘waste’ heat is discarded and moving power over large distances results in transmission losses. 

“However, savings can only be made if the CHP unit is sized correctly. Oversized CHP units will not run if the heat demand is not present, and as a result the anticipated electricity will not be generated. The golden rule for CHP is to keep it as small as possible. Sizing the system so that the base load heating requirements can be met largely by the CHP unit alone will result in the continuous generation of low cost, low carbon electricity as a by-product of producing base load heating.

“CHP is a well-established, proven, reliable technology with numerous successful installations throughout the world, including hospitals across the UK. It should be an important consideration for any hospital looking to replace their heating system.”