THREE health board energy projects are tipped to reduce NHS Scotland’s carbon footprint by over 12,000 tonnes over the course of their lifecycles.
NHS Borders, NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Tayside are all set to see energy conservation schemes reach completion and go live.
The three recently completed projects were delivered by Vital Energi through the Non-Domestic Energy Efficiency Framework and an energy performance contract which ‘guarantees’ energy and carbon savings to be verified over a 12-month period.
Regional manager Kieran Walsh said, “These types of energy performance projects are important because they provide assurances to our clients, and we have the confidence to guarantee that savings will be delivered as promised. It’s fantastic to see these decarbonisation schemes moving into the live phase where those savings will be realised, and these are three more fantastic contributions to NHS Scotland meeting its net zero targets.”
For NHS Borders, the Vital Energi team surveyed the existing energy infrastructure at Borders General Hospital and designed a range of measures which are projected to save £279,302 whilst generating 344 tonnes of carbon reduction per year. This was achieved through upgrades to the lighting, HVAC, valves and building management systems as well as insulating pipework across the hospital and a few smaller satellite sites. A 680 kWp solar array was also delivered.
NHS Lanarkshire is expected to save 191 tonnes of carbon whilst achieving £172,135 of financial savings through a mix of energy conservation measures across two sites which included rooftop solar PV, heating pump upgrades and building fabric improvements such as insulation, draught proofing and door glazing upgrades.
Two separate heat recovery systems have been added to the West of Scotland Laundry site, which are designed to recover waste heat from the internal space and mixed effluent of the washing machines.
NHS Tayside, meanwhile, undertook measures to reduce carbon emissions across three sites by 186 tonnes per year whilst saving £27,389 per annum. Energy conservation measures included the installation of 269 rooftop solar panels across two sites, five air source heat pumps to provide heating and hot water, and improved building fabric performance through measures including insulation, door and glazing upgrades and LED lighting upgrades.
In addition to these three new projects entering the monitoring and verification phase, the NHS Forth Valley energy conservation project has just completed its first 12 months of being live and achieved each of its key performance indicators, saving 116 tonnes of carbon per year, almost £60,000 in energy savings and reduced energy usage by over 600,000 kilowatt hours per year.
After securing additional funding, works were expanded to also include Battery Energy Storage Systems across three sites and an air source heat pump to help decarbonise the estate.
Kieran Walsh added, “These projects exemplify a fundamental step transition to Scotland meeting its net zero targets, so it is imperative that they deliver as promised and the NHS realises the full carbon savings. We’re delighted to show our commitment to the decarbonisation of the NHS by helping to deliver four more projects which will make a difference to the health boards and local communities.”
