University of Cambridge’s Churchill College set for a green CHP boost
A new 15-year combined heat and power (CHP) contract is set to provide low carbon electricity and heat to Churchill College in the University of Cambridge.
The contract will continue the energy services started in 1993 and see one of the latest generation of Veolia CHP units installed to provide the campus with secure energy supplies.
The service will replace the previous CHP that had completed over 120,000 generating hours over a 22 year life - equivalent to a vehicle completing over 5 million miles or 208 trips around the earth. After years of successful delivery of electricity, heat and hot water to the campus the college has now decided to take advantage of the benefits of a modern more efficient unit to support their academic and research activities in mathematics, science and technology, the arts and humanities.
The new CHP uses the latest lean-burn technology to generate low carbon electricity and heat for the campus, and will save an estimated 5,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Veolia’s CHP helpdesk will provide lifetime monitoring with maintenance provided by the company’s nationwide field service teams. The company already supports the sustainable goals of universities in the UK and reduces their carbon emissions by over 40,000 tonnes each year.
Gavin Graveson, Veolia’s COO Public and Commercial, said: “This latest application of CHP demonstrates our long term commitment to deliver energy efficiency and low carbon energy to higher education. We currently have 25MWe of CHP capacity that provides energy on over 60 University campuses, supporting their education and research facilities, and housing more than 200,000 students. ”
Receiving its Royal Charter in 1960, Churchill College is the national and Commonwealth memorial to Sir Winston Churchill and is situated on 42 acres in north-west Cambridge. The College is renowned for its academic standing and has produced twenty-nine Nobel Prize winners among its past and present members.
This story was written by Liz Gyekye, editor of Bioenergy Insight.
