Case Study Swansea University - Over £700,000 Targeted in Energy Cost Benefits

In early 2016, the University required an overview study of the best options for future low carbon heat and power at their Singleton Campus. The Campus, comprising of 160,000 m² buildings, has a District Heat Network (DHN) fed by an Energy Centre that in turn contains a 1.8 MWe reciprocating gas engine Combined Heat and Power unit (CHP).

The Estates (technical services) team worked in conjunction with the Energy Saving Trust and the Carbon Trust (via the Resource Efficient Wales scheme) to acquire the services of CR Plus. A starting point for the project was: ‘what low carbon heat and power strategy should the campus plan to implement over the coming decades?’

Singleton Campus Estate anticipates a potential high rate of change over the coming years in order to accommodate a planned expansion in student numbers. A large scale estates regeneration project is underway with the general aspiration known but detailed specifics/ and plans still under development.

Singleton Campus Aerial View 2006 (courtesy of Swansea University)

STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT

Working with the Estates team it became apparent that delivering a meaningful strategy would need to include the principles of FLEXIBILITY and RESILIENCE against a range of external and internal factors. The strategic outcome is shown below:

Phase 1 - Provides the basis for progression & quick savings

Phase 3:Further CHP for winter peak & use absorption chillers & ORC’s

Phase 1: Resolving CHP issues, boiler issues & DHN interaction

Phase 2 - Provides savings & backup to old CHP unitPhase 2:Install container based CHP for day use & backup

Phase 3: Additional savings, backup & use residual heat

Phase 4: New Energy Centre

Phase 4: Use movable assets in new Centre

Energy Efficiency & Building Optimisation Work in Tandem

Beginning in late summer 2016, CR Plus was tasked by the university to deliver Phase 1 of the strategy – the core principals were to deliver significant ‘quick win’ financial benefits from optimum use of existing Energy Centre (including CHP) and DHN equipment.

Benefits – (Summer 2016 to Winter 2016-17) #1

• Energy Cost Benefits £ Improvements ~ £400K/year• CHP Utilisation Improved from below 30% to 75% • CHP Output Power & Heat output increases by resolving technical engine issues

centred on cooling & service provision• Process Control Significant step changes in overall control of heat generation from

Energy Centre• Monitoring Identified ‘quick wins’ on existing metering issues plus worked with

Swansea staff to gather, analyse and understand key CHP, boiler and DHN system parameters. To boost communication of Energy Centre performance and savings to the core technical services team, an energy monitor with interactive dashboard was delivered to complement the existing Building Management System (BMS).

Ongoing Work & Aspirational Benefits – (Winter 2016-17 onwards) #2

• Energy Cost Benefits £ Rise to > £720K/year • Integration of CHP within the Energy Centre Revitalise CHP credibility within the

core university team to achieve optimum asset performance that reflects well on the team’s contribution and ongoing efforts

• Waste Heat Recovery Aim to reinstate Exhaust WHR by Summer 2017 • CHP Utilisation Improvement target to over 80% • CHP Output Move load on engine further towards 100%• Legislation Realise benefits from CCL & CRC including a six figure rebate• Resilience Further improve the University’s Heat & Power resilience to equipment

failure, grid import and campus heat stability • Carbon Benefits up to ~1,000 tCO2e/yr

CR PLUS DELIVERY OF PHASE 1 – 2016/17

= Wide Ranging Benefits with less than a 1-year Payback

#1 Modelled benefits vs grid only condition annualised amount to just over £400K. Actual benefits vs grid achieved during the Phase 1a project (Sep 16 to Feb 17) amounted to >£150K. #2 Aspirational benefits include modelled annualised savings for the site vs a grid only condition and include the range of cost benefits potentially achievable.

DELIVERING PHASE 1

Team Approach – Key to delivering the improvements gained so far under Phase 1 has been the time applied to communication and teamwork, both with Swansea University key personnel and also with external stakeholders, such as the CHP service company, burner/boiler engineers and controls engineers. All team contributors have provided invaluable insights that enabled an integrated approach to succeed in delivering further benefits. The integrated team approach maintained Swansea’s strategic site objectives at the centre of the decision making process.

Bring in Buildings Experience & Other Sector Experience – CR Plus’s wide range of sector experiences helped to bring fresh insights that led to solutions to long standing problems to help constructively challenge the Status Quo.

Understanding the Site - The Singleton Campus has a 90,000 litre DHN which supplies 80% of the campus total heat demand. The DHN operates as a low temperature circuit with the Energy Centre generating 2-5 MWth (heating season) heat at 75-80°C, with flow returning from the network of buildings at 60-65°C. Actual temperature, flow and heat have been the subject of technical works during Phase 1 to deliver consistency and improved system delta temperature.

Campus District Heat Network and Energy Centre

Energy Centre

DHN

PlantRooms

Investigation & Measurement - At its core Phase 1 has been an investigation-led exercise. By definition, it is impossible to know what will be found in precise detail until it is found, subsequently flexibility with the ongoing scope of work has been essential to deliver the right solutions for Swansea University. Inevitably trust plays a significant role when undertaking an exercise like this and the Swansea University/CR Plus relationship has grown based on the results that the relationship has and is delivering together. By firstly analysing key data before forming first principals, CR Plus was able to engage with external specialists to collectively drive towards the improvement targets.

BMS Energy Centre HMI

CR Plus utilised BMS data logging capabilities benefiting from the University investing in controls infrastructure and software upgrades in 2016, plus from being able to work closely with in house BMS controls engineer expertise to produce evidence-based data to validate project outcomes.

Identification & Implementation – General problem areas were initially identified at the outset, with investigations developing and following root causes sometimes into unexpected places. This led to a risk-based review of all that the internal and external stakeholders contributed allowing the multitude of possible quick fix solutions to be robustly reviewed prior to subsequent IMPLEMENTATION. Quick fix examples include:

1. Primary circuit burner modulation – having not been commissioned with their full controllability, the boiler/burner combinations produced highly variable flow temperatures to the network. In conjunction with the Swansea University’s BMS controls partner and burner service engineers, CR Plus was able to introduce BMS controlled burner modulation and primary circuit software improvements to produce a much more stable EC flow condition.

Before & After graphs of DHN Flow (Red Line) and Return (Blue Line)

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LTHW DHN Circuit - Control Temps

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LTHW DHN Circuit - Control Temps

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BEFORE

1. CHP Investigation Including Power & Heat Metering – with metering fundamental to proving performance and claiming cost benefits, fundamental issues were quickly identified and resolved. This included CHP heat and gas metering fixes and working extensively with the CHP service company to measure and troubleshoot the system (findings included flow restrictions and pumping issues). Also crucially, over the course of the works to date, unit utilisation has improved from a historical average of below 30% to ~75% as well as increasing actual electrical load (output) from the CHP.

CHP Intervention works yielded a step change power performance improvement in early 2017. Leading up to the modification works, a significant amount of measurement, analysis and investigation was undertaken to fully understand the detailed issues and arrive at logical and provable improvement measures. These measures were tested using a risk-based review with all stakeholders prior to implementation.

Extra Deliverables

Extra deliverables included; optimising boiler controls, extending existing University BMS controls to add value (establishing choke points), evaluating and optimising existing assets in a way that is compatible with the strategy. The improved integration that has occurred to date has complimented those efforts to gain system stability, performance, resilience and credibility.

To Deliver Phase 1 more extensively, further studies and measures will aim to address localised building issues connected to the DHN and rebalance the network’s heat distribution to gain improved stability for buildings plus optimise DHN circuit return temperature for optimal CHP performance.

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3. Energy Dashboard – to improve the communication of savings and real-time CHP operation performance, CR Plus delivered an Energy Dashboard which focuses on reporting the real time and accumulated savings derived from the operation of the CHP plus helps the Technical Services Team quickly identify performance issues within the Energy Centre.

Energy Dashboard Monitors showing real-time cost saving and CHP performance

www.swansea.ac.uk

WHAT SWANSEA SAY…

John Llewellyn, Energy & Carbon Officer, Technical Services, Estates, Swansea University

“CR Plus’s flexible and collaborative approach to optimise the Singleton Campus Energy Centre & District Heating Network and their wide range of capabilities has been key to delivering real value to Swansea University.”

“CR Plus continually challenge both our and their own thoughts and ideas to ensure all potential opportunities are explored which could enhance future campus development.”

“At both Strategic and Technical Engineering levels the individual CR Plus consultants have delivered the highest quality with their wealth of experience and expertise gained from a wide range of sectors being key in supporting our organisational goals.”

“CR Plus identified and delivered significant cost savings in a short period of time and backed this up by conceptualising and supporting the delivery of an Energy Dashboard. The dashboards display of real-time performance quickly demonstrates to colleagues the operational status of the energy generation plant and financial benefits being accumulated”

“CR Plus will continue to support Swansea University in a number of project areas and as such their services are recommended to any business or organisation looking to make operational savings or improve their energy performance.”

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