The Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant on Highfield campus generates a constant amount of electricity through two gas turbines. However, recent improvements in energy efficiency across the campus have led to a reduction in demand to the point that, in recent years, there has been insufficient demand to allow both CHP generators to be run without generating more electricity than is required.
To address this, as Christmas 2014/15 approached, the University’s Electrical Operations Team reconfigured the 11,000 volt network in order to transfer more electrical load to the CHP plant. This allowed both engines to be run throughout the break. Although the electrical saving was offset by the increased gas consumption, the project achieved substantial carbon and cost savings.
This project resulted in an annual saving of £14,500 and 74 tonnes/CO 2 .