2007 – 2009

Client: London Development Agency

The Royal Albert Basin is situated in East London in greater Docklands area. The development comprises mainly a newly build residential building stock and about 15 % public and commercial space. A total of about 140,000 m² floor space was considered as the potential to be connected to the district heating. The Albert Basin CHP DH Scheme was planned to be the first pilot project of the London Thames Gateway Heat Network (LTGHN).

The project design was carried out by Greenfield as part of the Decentralized Energy Delivery Team at the LDA with the purpose to evaluate the technical, environmental and financial feasibility of supplying heat and electricity from a local Energy Station.

The first stage of the work was to review the building development plans and to assess the heat and electricity demand, taking into account the anticipated energy efficiency requirements. Next, a modern DH network was dimensioned with preliminary routing to cover the new developments and some of the existing buildings as well.

Combined Heat and Power (CHP) was a key element contributing to the financial feasibility of the DH system. A private wire electricity di_stribution system was designed as part of the investment scheme to facilitate high revenue power sales to local consumers.

An optimum mix of energy generation capacity was designed to meet the estimated future local heat and power consumption. The main requirement set on heat supply was to achieve at least 20 % reduction in CO₂ emissions compared to standard approach, gas heating. Secondly, financial feasibility, and quality of supply were emphasized.

Bespoke simulation software was used for calculating the annual heat and power generation for each production unit, on hourly basis using typical heat and electricity load patterns for southern England.

Financial analysis comprised the cash flow, IRR and NPV calculations to compare various technical options. The sensitivity analysis covered the main market inputs and other variables such as energy prices and investment costs. The conclusions included an investment recommendation with an action plan and schedule for further project development and implementation.

Finally, Greenfield compiled the investment recommendations submitted to the LDA investment decision process. Albert Basin CHP DH Energy Scheme was approved as a Strategic Case in Gateway A and as a Business Case in Gateway B.