Clarke Energy, the Liverpool based green energy solutions company have successfully completed another Combined Heat and Power (CHP) installation at the Ordnance Survey Headquarters in Southampton. As the exclusive UK distributors for the superb Jenbacher gas engine range, Clarke Energy were seen as the ideal company to fulfil the energy needs of the 80,000 sq. m building.
Working alongside Keith Ball Pipework Fabrication, The Lightning Group and controls contractor Heatsave, the installation looks set to save the Ordnance Survey many thousands of pounds. The Facilities Manager at Southampton, Mike Grey, has been impressed: “The scheme is on target to achieve a better than expected payback period of under six years in spite of lower electricity and higher gas prices. The 2 Jenbacher J316 purpose-designed gas engines are each rated at 836kW. Built as a 16 cylinder in V-form working on the 4-stroke principle, each engine comes with a gas turbo charger and a twostage intercooler. Emissions are kept to a minimum through the use of Jenbacher’s ‘Leanox’ lean-mix engine control technology.
The Jenbacher is specifically designed to run on natural gas and is not a converted diesel engine, it offers superior efficiency and increased reliability over its competitors. A mezzanine floor above the engine enclosures carries the exhaust silencers, heat exchangers and all the services to keep the need for floor-space down to a minimum. Designed to meet the 1.6MW electricity demand and the 3.5MW heat demand of the building, the Ordnance Survey has increased demand by approximately 300kW of electrical power since Customs and Excise started utilising a previously redundant part of the building. Currently the Ordnance Survey buys the extra demand from the national grid but improved efficiency measures look to reduce this.
The energy to power the absorption chilling requirements of the building can be run directly from the heat created by the CHP system, enabling 300kW of electrical load to be saved.April 2002 Even when temperatures drop as low as 6 degrees Celsius outside, the Jenbacher engines can still create enough heat to warm the entire building. The Ordnance Survey installation follows similar CHP schemes installed by Clarke Energy. To date, hospitals, universities, chemical works and even sewage plants have benefited from their awardwinning knowledge.
