Combined heat and power (CHP) project
The CHP is an innovative project which will allow us to save money and reduce our impact on the environment by generating our own heat and electricity on campus. It will ensure we can save more than £8m over 20 years, help meet HEFCE’s carbon reduction targets and maintain our position as a beacon in sustainability within the Higher Education sector. The new plant will be up and running by November 2010.
What is a Combined Heat and Power plant?
The Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant is an efficient engine that will generate both heat and electricity for the University of Bradford. It provides a cost effective and more environmentally sustainable way of generating electricity to power our buildings on the City Campus. At the same time we will harness the high temperatures produced through this process for hot water and for heating our buildings. As the engine generates both electricity and heat, it is more efficient than conventional boilers and will allow us to save £400,000 per year on our utility bills.
How does it work?
Whilst the technical aspects of the design and installation are quite complex, the principal is simple; rather than using gas to fuel boilers it is used to fuel an engine that drives a dynamo to create electricity. The heat generated by the engine is used to heat water for heating and hot water services. Fossil fuels are used only once in the process to generate heat and electricity rather than the traditional method of generating heat through boilers and electricity from the National Grid. Since less fuel is burnt the total amount of carbon dioxide emissions produced annually will be reduced by 15%.
Costs and Savings
The University currently spends approx £2,600,000 per year on heat and electricity. With the installation of the new CHP unit the University will save £400,000 per year on heating and electricity bills.
The total cost for the installation of the CHP plant is £4.5M and this has been made possible through securing a £2.4million interest free loan from an organisation called Salix. Salix is an independent company funded by the Carbon Trust to work with the public sector, including Universities, to reduce carbon emissions through investment in energy efficiency.
After taking into consideration project costs and projected future energy prices, the CHP installation will pay back the original investment in approximately 8 years.
