The first month’s figures for Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Energy Project show savings of almost a quarter of a million pounds.
The energy bill at two hospitals within the Trust has been cut almost in half via a new shared energy centre.
The centre uses a combined heat and power (CHP) engine and new combi boilers. The hospitals, which are linked to the centre via 2.2km of heating pipes and high voltage cables, also replaced 6,407 light fittings.
In October 2016, the monthly energy bill for the Trust’s Radcliffe and Churchill Hospitals (excluding PFI estates) was £484,175.03. A year on, the same bill was £252,832.27, representing a saving of £231,343.03, or £7,462 every day.
The new infrastructure will also cut the Trust’s CO₂ output by 10,000 tonnes per year (the equivalent of 4,000 homes’ CO₂ emissions) and guarantees to save the Trust £461,746 (net) a year on its energy bills for 25 years.
The £14.8m project was carried out by Vital Energi. Speaking at the energy centre’s official opening last week, project development director Ashley Malin thanked local residents for putting up with the disruption of laying the 2.2.km energy link, and welcomed their feedback.
Claire Hennessy, head of OUH operational estates and facilities management, said that the Trust was now “going into winter with reliable heat and power for the first time in decades”.
She said that the reduction in CO2 emissions and energy bill and maintenance savings were also highly welcome.
“The Trust was recently awarded 2017 Sustainability Project of the Year by the Institute of Healthcare Engineering & Estate Management for this project. The awards are peer group judged and hotly contested, so we were very pleased to receive this recognition for our vision and results so far.”
Mark Bristow, OUH lead project manager for the Hospital Energy Project, said: “It is a testament to the skill and commitment of everyone involved in this project that several thousands of tonnes of equipment were decommissioned, dismantled and removed while, concurrently, complex new systems were installed and commissioned without interrupting any patient care at either hospital.”
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