The 90 million Euro Kings Yard energy centre in the Olympic Park in East London, which will heat, cool and power the Olympic Games in 2012, has been opened by Mayor of London Boris Johnson.
Also present were Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) chief executive David Higgins and Gérard Mestrallet, chairman and CEO of GDF SUEZ whose subsidiary - Cofely - built, funded and will operate the new facility.
The energy centre uses a biomass and natural gas-powered trigeneration plant to offer combined cooling, heating and power. Cofely will operate it for 40 the next years.
The privately funded facility would, said Mr Mestrallet, help reduce the carbon emissions of the Olympic Park and a mixed retail and residential development in Stratford, East London. By 2015, projected carbon dioxide savings are projected to be more than 10,000 tonnes a year compared with conventional systems.
Mr Johnson said: 'It is an environmental imperative that we harness the delivery of 2012 Games to raise new standards of sustainability. Not only will this leverage in new skills and job opportunities for Londoners, but also help the transition towards a low carbon economy.
'It is a fantastic achievement that the Olympic Park will be powered locally. Not only will it generate electricity but the heat from that process will also be used to heat and cool buildings providing a valuable wider legacy for the vibrant new metropolitan quarter we are creating in east London. We want to encourage more energy centres such as this one through the London Green Fund, which will offer loans for innovative infrastructure projects.'
Andrew Altman, chief executive of the Olympic Park Legacy Company, aded: 'The Energy Centre will be a core part of our long-term sustainability aims, meeting all future energy needs of the Olympic Park including the five new neighbourhoods that will be developed. Not only will it be more energy efficient by eliminating the need for boilers in each home, but it has the capacity to supply the areas surrounding the Park and, in turn, leave an even bigger legacy for east London.'
The energy centre includes a gas-fired Combined Cooling Heat & Power (CCHP) plant to capture the heat generated by electricity production. It also includes biomass-fired boilers using sustainable woodchip to generate heat and deliver low carbon energy. Cooling is provided through a combination of electric, ammonia based chillers and absorption chillers which are driven by heat recovered from plant in the energy centre.
The centre offers an initial capacity of 46.5 MW of heating and 16 MW of cooling. Equipment in the building includes five cooling towers, and two hot water boilers each weighing around 60 tons. It will provide heating and cooling through 16km of Community Energy Networks across the Olympic Park.
A second Energy Centre is being built in Stratford City to supply the new retail and commercial development.