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MBS

NOVEMBER 2013
Volume 10 No. 7

MODERN BUILDING SERVICES

The UK’s highest-circulation building-services journal

The hidden
fuel

29

Space heating

47
Focusing on
energy control

New Kingston homes get their


heating direct from the Thames

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PROJECT REPORT

River Thames is heat source


for apartment development
Down at Kingston upon Thames, a huge heat-pump system is drawing heat from the
River Thames to serve an innovative district-heating system for a residential
development — a project that was facilitated by local MP and Secretary of State at
DECC Ed Davey. Ken Sharpe has been finding out more.

I
t was about five years ago even possible that more heat might
that Mike Spenser-Morris, be extracted from the ground, but
managing director of NHP the effect should be small. Because
Leisure Developments, the temperature of the water in the
became aware of the potential of pipe is about the same as the
heat pumps for community surrounding ground, the main
heating in apartment blocks. He pipework does not need to be
decided to look more closely at insulated. These pipework runs are
this technology as an alternative plastic — MDP underground and
to the combination of gas-fired ABS above ground.
CHP and biomass that was then The low temperature of the
being considered for the primary pipework will also not
Kingston Heights and River Walk contribute to internal heat gains, a
development of residential concern of the latest Part L which
apartments at Kingston upon comes into effect in April 2014.
Thames. Primary water is drawn from the
The image that set the project
His enthusiasm was prompted by water at about 9 or 10°C is piped to River Thames at up to 150 l/s. At the
rolling, with the River Thames very
the computer -generated images local plant rooms with Mitsubishi apparent in the background. depth of abstraction, the
produced to promote the heat pumps in them. That temperature is a steady 9°C, with
development, which clearly showed circulating water is the energy return water about 3 K cooler. The
the River Thames in the background source for the heat pumps and water is piped to a nearby plant
(adjacent photo). returns at a lower temperature — The kit used room, where plate heat exchangers
about 3 K lower. There are 41 heat
The development includes 56
homes in Kingston Heights for pumps with a heat output of about
throughout the provide the interface with flow and
return pipework to the building. The
Affinity Sutton, a national provider 30 kW each. project is quite river-water circuit is thus open, and
of affordable housing, and 81 luxury The next stage resembles a VRF the circuit to the building is closed.
private apartments known as River air-conditioning/heating system in standard — from the Ultimately, the system will generate
Walk provided by Redrow London. that hot refrigerant gas is sent to a around 2.3 MW of heat.
Mike Spenser-Morris had picked ‘heat-pump boiler’ in each heat pumps to the It should be evident that water is
up some knowledge about water- apartment. That ‘boiler’ then heats heat-pump boilers, not actually extracted from the river,
source heat pumps, and decided water for underfloor heating used for a process and then
that the River Thames, which is not systems and a hot-water cylinder, the inverter- returned. That perception, however,
tidal at this point, would be an ideal which has the support of an electric was not available to the
source of heat. Discussions with immersion heater. Water comes off controlled primary Environment Agency, which had to
consulting engineer Chris White, the boiler at about 45°C. Every room
in an apartment has its own
and secondary consider the application for an
managing director of White extraction licence.
Associates, confirmed that the thermostat. pumps, and the plate That was when Ed Davey,
approach would be technically and And lest refrigerant circulating in Secretary of State at the
economically feasible and cost little a building sets off your personal heat exchangers Department for Energy & Climate
more than gas-fired CHP and alarms, there is no need for Change, became involved. He is MP
biomass system. refrigerant leak detection because for the neighbouring constituency,
One of the key problems was to the quantity in any particular circuit Two plate heat exchangers provide the boundary of which is a couple of
find a similar installation is small and there is no refrigerant the interface between the River hundred yards away across the
elsewhere, for no-one really wants pipework in bedrooms. Thames and the main water- railway line to Waterloo Station in
The kit used throughout the distribution pipework.
to be a pioneer for such a project. London. Ed Davey was intrigued by
There wasn’t one in this country, project is quite standard — from the the project, as was evident when the
nor was there one in Europe. heat pumps to the heat-pump installation was officially turned on
Eventually, one was found in Japan boilers, the inverter-controlled in October.
— which was duly visited, providing primary and secondary pumps, and Mike Spenser-Morris went to one
the confidence to go ahead at the plate heat exchangers. of Ed Davey’s surgeries and
Kingston Because the main underground convinced him that the nature of
But where this community/ distribution pipework transports this project was potentially of huge
district-heating system differs from water at a temperature comparable significance on a national scale.
most other systems is that there with the ground, there are no Levers were obviously pulled in the
are no hot-water mains. concerns about heat loss, as there right places, and, presumably
What happens instead is that would be with hot water. Indeed, it is lessons learned for the future.

26 MODERN BUILDING SERVICES NOVEMBER 2013


PROJECT REPORT

Project culmination — Ed Davey,


Where this Secretary of State at the DECC sets
the district-heating system
community/district- operating, watched by Mike
Spenser-Morris of NHP Leisure
heating system Developments.

differs from most available to the heating system for


other systems is that the apartments, for which it is
preferentially used rather than
there are no hot- being rejected to the River Thames.
So we have the dual benefit of
water mains highly efficient air conditioning and
highly efficient heating via heat
pumps.
Indeed, Mike Spenser-Morris A COP of four to six for heating
admits that the project would not the apartments is expected, but the
have succeeded without Ed Davey’s original calculations did not include
help. this benefit of heat rejection from
Even the maximum draw-off the hotel.
from the River Thames is relatively Heating costs for the apartments
minute — about 1 part in 2000 of are expected to be some 20% less,
the flow (0.05%). The 3 K lower than would otherwise be the case,
return temperature has no with carbon emission reduced by
discernable effect on the river itself 500 t a year. Carbon emissions will
just a short distance from the actually be zero as green electricity
return point. is supplied by Ecotricity
The safety of fish and eels in the Given his support for the project,
river is protected by a fine mesh it was entirely appropriate that Ed
across the draw-off area. The mesh Davey should formally switch it on.
has a pitch of just 2 mm, so even He said, ‘Kingston Heights is a great
elvers cannot be drawn in. The example of how sustainable
water velocity is also very low, about solutions can help power entire
0.2 m/s, so there is no risk of fish communities. I want to see a
being pinned to the grille and community energy revolution where
unable to escape. projects like this are the norm, not
It the mesh becomes blocked, the exception.’
the flow can be reversed to clear Donald Daw, commercial director
obstructions. with Mitsubishi Electric, said, ‘This
The story could stop there, except project is one of the most
that an adjacent 142-bedroom hotel impressive in Europe if not the
will also be linked into the system world. This is a pioneering
— for heating and air conditioning. installation and hugely innovative.’
The idea is that heat from the hotel Mike Spenser-Morris is keen that
air conditioning will be rejected into the knowledge and experience
the closed-circuit cold-water loop. should be shared. A company, Zero
An air-conditioning system rejecting Carbon Partnership, has been set
heat into water at well under 10°C up to help encourage the
will achieve a very good EER application of open-water
(energy-efficiency ratio). technology for district-heating
That heat rejected becomes systems.

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