Combined Heat and Power System

New Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Power Plant at large commercial glasshouse grower site

Client: P3P (site owners) and APS Salads (tenants)

Project overview:

A large commercial glasshouse growing facility was being powered by an old an inefficient boiler plant which was originally linked to a large adjacent power station.

Our client was looking for a complete turnkey solution to provide efficient heat and power, bringing savings on energy costs and providing an improved growing environment, and efficiency savings for its tenant.

The solution:

A complete new ‘tri generation’ energy centre was designed, built and brought into full operation by our team of experts at CambridgeHOK.

Crucially, this project was delivered with no production downtime for the growing business, providing a complete combined heat and power (CHP) solution.

Carbon efficient technology ensures low carbon heating is provided to the glasshouse.

Our teams managed planning issues, the integration of the new heating, electricity and CO2 technology and organised and managed the HV connection to the National Grid.

Our team ensured this project ran smoothly from concept to completion in a 12 month period.

The benefits for our clients:

New 10MW boilers now provide a much more efficient supply of heat, and the new energy centre generates enough power to not only heat and power all glasshouses on site, but also generate excess energy which the site owners, P3P, can sell back to the national grid.

Thermal energy is stored for use when demand requires it.

The system also allows for CO2 from the gas boilers to be to be directed back into the glasshouses, potentially boosting crop yields by 30 per cent, and reducing the carbon footprint of production by ensuring CO2 is prevented from entering the environment.

It will ensure APS Salads, tenants at the site, will benefit from lower running costs due to greater power and heat efficiency, whilst CO2 from the gas power will be redirected to the greenhouses to improve crop production and yield.