Leicester City Council

Leicester City Council
The Energy Efficiency Centre
2-4 Market Place South
Leicester
LE1 5HB
Tel: 0116 299 5132
Fax: 0116 299 5137

stepp001@leicester.gov.uk - Peter Stephens
www.energy-advice.co.uk / www.energycruiser.co.uk

As the first UK Environment City, Leicester has been at the forefront of CHP development. It is intended to have a full city-wide CHP scheme, reducing national carbon dioxide levels by up to two million tonnes, within the next five years. This will help Leicester reach its target to halve 1990 levels of energy consumption by 2025. The Energy Office, part of the Environment and Development Division of the City Council, in partnership with the Housing District Heating Design Team, has been developing small-scale CHP sites at district heating plants. The St. Andrews district heating system is one of the first CHP systems to use the PowerGen network for transmitting electricity to 14 other council buildings. In this way all the electrical power of the CHP unit can be used at maximum efficiency, with the district heating mains taking up all the available heat from the CHP unit. At the St. Andrews site, gas used to run the CHP unit is purchased from Powergen. Close partnership between the council, PowerGen and the contractor is a key element in the unique project's success. In 1995 a 200 kW CHP unit came on line at St. Peters district heating system. All the electricity from the CHP sites is now transmitted via the EME network to council buildings in Leicester. All organisations are working closely to develop a billing system which could cope with the complexity of the transmitting of electricity from CHP to various sites. In December 1996 a 600 kW CHP plant was launched, producing electricity at St. Matthews district heating site. This formed part of a major overhaul, including new underground mains. It is intended to extend the district heating mains to other buildings in the area, and also to link district heating plants at St. Matthews and St. Marks. This project forms the first part of the city wide CHP scheme. Existing district heating is being extended to other estates. Finally with the new unitary authority status, the City Council has been able to add more schools to district heating within the city allowing the schools to make further savings.