London Fire Brigade – Battersea, Park Royal, Ruislip and Stanmore

Organisation:

London Fire Brigade

Organisation size:

Large

Locations:

Battersea, Park Royal, Ruislip and Stanmore fire stations.

Stakeholders:

London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (which runs London Fire Brigade), project developer; Baxi Senertech, BTU (Heating Ltd), Solarcentury, Jacobs UK Limited, consultants and system installers.

Aims:

To demonstrate the feasibility of retrofitting renewable energy and low-carbon decentralised energy technologies into operational fire stations in London with little or no disruption. Plus to integrate decentralised energy generation devices that complement each others performance and run almost 24/7, 365 days per year.

Savings:

Generating 21,200 kWh electricity per year and saving 7700 kg CO2 emissions per year for each station.

How the London Fire Brigade made a difference

Fire stations are in operation 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and it is not possible to simply close them in order to retrofit energy systems.

But this didn’t stop London Fire Brigade launching a grand scale plan to install both Dachs Mini-Combined Heat and Power (CHP) units and Sanyo Photovoltaic (PV) arrays in fire stations across London.

At first it was difficult to find fire stations that could accommodate both CHPs (in boiler rooms that had spare capacity) and PV technology (on flat roofs in good condition with parapet walls). However, there are some types of fire station buildings that do lend themselves perfectly to this arrangement – and Battersea, Park Royal, Ruislip and Stanmore were the obvious choices.

Complimentary technology

The operating characteristics of CHP and PV systems results in them being very complementary technologies. PV systems reach their peak output during daylight hours, so can be sized to provide the bulk of daytime electrical requirement; whilst a CHP system, if sized to provide all the heating and hot water required for baseload during a fire station’s 24/7 operation, will be able to run throughout the night, providing energy efficient low-carbon heat and electricity.

With each fire station having an electrical baseload of around 6kW, the Dachs 5.5kW CHP system proved to be the perfect match. The CHP can operate for over 17 hours per day, providing all the station’s heating and hot water requirements, while the PV system provides all the electricity required during summer daytime.

There were two contractors to coordinate the project, although each was working on different parts of the fire station and were never on site at the same time.

When it came to connecting the CHP and PV system to the grid, the power to the station had to be shut down. This in turn meant that IT servers had to be shut down and the firefighters had to make alternative arrangements to receive emergency messages.

This was not ideal for more than a few hours, so everything had to be well prepared by both contractors to ensure a smooth connection. Finding a methodology for doing this proved quite a challenge for the first station but made the next three much easier.

Real reduction in carbon emissions

Since completion, each station has reduced carbon emissions by 7.7 tonnes and 21,200 kWh per year. This equates to 30.8 tonnes CO2 emissions and 84,800 kWh per year across all four stations.

This project was supported by the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) Large Photovoltaic Demonstration Scheme, managed by the Energy Saving Trust.

It has been a great success for the London Fire Brigade and has provided them with the perfect model to implement this arrangement at up to five more stations. Not to mention reducing their electricity bills.

Special recognition

To mark the achievement, London Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson presented the LFB Energy Team with a special award for outstanding performance in all areas of energy, including renewables.

A major spin-off benefit is that fire station staff are now much more aware of saving energy as a result of the installations being on site and observing the LED displays. Lights, PCs and other appliances are being switched off when not in use and doors / windows are closed to prevent heat escaping unnecessarily.

The electricity and gas bills have been reduced even further owing to raised awareness of energy and climate change related issues, which is underpinned by a major internal communications campaign – LFB Green.