Leading by example in reducing its carbon footprint, power systems provider the Shenton Group has installed a powertherm CHP system in the workshop of its Hampshire headquarters — and expects to see energy savings of around 80 per cent
With the flexibility to support both inside and outside applications, powertherm’s CHP technology recovers waste heat to provide heating, hot water or even air conditioning. This reduces overall energy consumption and thereby enables commercial and industrial customers to offset gas and electricity consumption.
Supplied by Shenton Group company Scorpion Power Systems, powertherm eliminates the possibility of brown or black outs as well as improving the quality of power delivered. The system’s synchronising controllers also enable powertherm to run in sync with a standby generator.
Powertherm’s engine technology gives 85.5 per cent package efficiency with thermal recovery, says Scorpion, enabling the units to provide an outstanding energy output compared to fuel consumption, as well as shrink a company’s carbon footprint. Utilising a low emission natural gas engine, powertherm offers a pre-engineered package design which reduces up-front engineering, site design and installation costs. The package design encompasses all CHP components within an acoustic enclosure, resulting in a low noise output of 68 dB(A) at 7m in plant room environments, together with neatness of design and ease of access.
CRC pending
Interest in powertherm has been growing substantially due to the pending introduction of the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), says Scorpion. The CRC requires organisations using more than 6000 MWh of electricity per year to report their total energy use emissions with effect from October 2009. CRC is a UK mandatory cap and trade scheme proposed to cut carbon emissions by 1.2 million tonnes of carbon per year by 2020. Approximately 5000 organisations will be obliged to take part and it will cost a business a minimum of £75,000 to purchase their allowances in April 2011.
In addition to having a role to play in reducing the impact of these additional costs on large enterprises, powertherm CHP is also suitable for smaller energy users, particularly those requiring a lot of energy or that operate around the clock — leisure centres, hotels, hospitals, for example — where it can enhance the energy profile of a site whilst improving energy costs and reducing its carbon footprint.
