Issue 73

19 January 1999

Hard Hat

One of two 39 tonne engines being lowered underneath Dalby Court for the new, environmentally friendlier combined heat and power plant on South Kensington campus.

Heat and power engines arrive

The £8 million plant, which will save the College nearly £900,000 per year, is likely to be bigger than any others installed in UK universities.

“It looks as if ours will have the largest total output of any university, and certainly the largest engine,” said energy manager Andrew Thorne.

The CHP plant will recover heat from the process of generating electricity to provide heating and hot water and will also be more environmentally friendly - overall CO ₂ emissions as a result of the College’s energy consumption will fall by more than 7,500 tonnes per year. When the amount of electricity generated exceeds College demands it will be possible to generate extra income by exporting the surplus to the National Grid.

The plant is on schedule to be tested and commissioned by July this year, followed by a three-month trial running period. The two gas-fired engines will each have a rated electrical output of 4.55 MW. The new plant also comprises generators, waste heat recovery boilers, conventional boilers and a new flue. A 15-year contract has been agreed with London Electricity Services which will be responsible for dealing with the future operation of the combined heat and power plant and will supply the College with steam, heat and electricity.

A 250 tonne crane was used to install the engines and will also be used to install the boilers later this month. “A system of temporary jacks will be installed in the void space beneath Ayrton Road to support the crane during its lifting operations,” said Joe Verdi, project manager at LES. “We are at present finalising our erection method and lifting sequence for the new chimney stack based on the use of a 225 tonne mobile crane positioned in the car park of the Royal College of Music,” he added.

Once the new equipment is commissioned the temporary boilerhouse in Dalby Court will be dismantled. More Estates Division project information is available at http://www.ad.ic.ac.uk/estates/projects/.