Author: admin

A former landfill site is set to play a central role in Bedford Borough Council’s net zero plans after the first of 8,080 solar PV panels were installed at the Bedford Green Technology & Innovation Park project.

After extensive regeneration works to the site, 4.2MW of capacity will be installed, stretching across a 30-hectare plot.  Piling and frames have been installed and, when complete, the project will save an estimated 1,000 tonnes of carbon per year.

The project is set to be operational in April and tested and commissioned by May 2022.

When we talk about pathways into the engineering industry, apprenticeships and degrees may be two of the most popular routes, but there are far more options for people who want to gain the skills, knowledge and experience needed to make a success of their careers.

To celebrate International Women in Engineering Day we sat down with Shannon O’Neil to discuss how her journey took her from College to Vital Energi via a Merchant Navy Cadetship.

Tell us a little about your career…

I joined Vital Energi as an Operations and Maintenance Engineer after leaving the merchant navy and have been with the company for a year and a half now. My job calls for me to maintain and oversee the sites, making sure they perform safely and efficiently to provide heat whilst maintaining their parameters. I schedule and undertake maintenance; perform inspections and monitor the system and I absolutely love it. There are many similarities in the role comparing with the navy that I massively enjoyed, whilst being able to come ashore and live a more sociable lifestyle.

I’ve been here one year and a half and I like how everyone is eager to help and I am gaining more experience and learning every day.  I love working with experienced engineers who talk me through new tasks, expand my knowledge in engineering and are keen in working together to help each other out.  The diversity within O&M has been so beneficial to me as I am constantly learning new skills and ways to work from them.

Why did you enter the heat network industry?

We cover various sites, the main site of mine is Queens Quay. This is similar to what I was doing onboard ships in terms of the controls and how the plant operates allowing me to transfer my skills. Ships tend to take their heat from engines to heat their domestic water so the CHP’s we also work with operate very similar. I undertook engine overhauls on the ship so I was intrigued with the annual boiler inspections and the work that goes into stripping, rebuilding and testing them.

My merchant navy career took me to some far-flung places and saw me sail through the Panama Canal and spend time in South America amongst other places.  After 6 years however, I was ready to end to the two-months-on two-months-off routine and applied for a job at Vital Energi.

How did you enter the industry?

I initially did a HND at college in Electrical Engineering. With this I was planning on going to university but I was more so interested in the practical work and getting experience. The cadetship offered 8 months of experience with getting the qualification so it was an easy decision for me to make and it turned out to be the most amazing experience.

I was in the merchant navy for 6 years and the knowledge and experience I gained really positioned me well for finding another job and the green energy industry looked like a great place for me to use my skills.

The Castle Park Water Source Heat Pump (WSHP) project in Bristol has been named as the winner of the “Heat Pump City of the Year” award at the 2022 European Heat Pump Association awards held in Brussels earlier this week.

The awards attracted almost 50 of Europe’s highest profile WSHP projects and saw the Castle Park energy centre claim the top spot, shining a spotlight on Bristol’s low-carbon heat network.

Scott Lutton, Vital Energi’s Operations Director – North & Scotland, “We’d like to congratulate Bristol City Council and Goram Homes for their fantastic achievement.  This project demonstrates that WSHPs can plug into existing networks and opens up the possibility of harnessing the Gigawatts of ambient heat in the UK’s rivers, which will play a large part in meeting our net zero targets.

“Heat pumps can lower energy bills and deliver strong carbon savings and Castle Park is one of the first major WSHP projects in the UK, so we’re delighted that it has gained recognition at the European level and hope it will inspire other similar projects going forwards.”

Power up! Heywood flicks the switch on major new solar farm

The largest publicly owned solar farm in Greater Manchester has powered up in Heywood.

The 10 hectare site at Chamber House, which secured just over £3m funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), is now switched on.

The electricity produced, which, at 5.5 megawatts of electricity, would be enough to power 2,000 homes, will be supplied to the national grid. It will be used to offset the council’s annual energy bill, potentially saving the authority thousands of pounds a year.

In addition to saving over 2,300 tonnes of carbon emissions a year, the solar farm is also bringing extra environmental benefits, with a huge planting scheme taking place across the site. More than 8,000 hedges, trees and plants have been planted as well as wildflower seeding to increase biodiversity, alongside the installation of bird boxes and wildlife habitats to encourage animal life-cycles to continue to thrive.

Vital Energi got the local community involved during the build, arranging mock interviews for local schoolchildren, presenting climate education workshops, holding site tours and offering work experience and local apprenticeship opportunities.

Chamber House Solar Farm was delivered by Rochdale Development Agency (RDA) in partnership with the council. This solar farm forms one of a number of  projects being delivered under the ERDF funded Unlocking Clean Energy within Greater Manchester (UCEGM) umbrella project led by Energy Systems Catapult (ESC).

With over 10 years’ experience within the energy sector, Vital Energi’s Project Development Director, Chris Calder, shares examples of ways in which the food and beverage manufacturing industry can start to take control of their energy consumption and build a resilient future.

The UK food and beverage industry is experiencing significant challenges through rising costs due to factors such as inflation rates and supply chains. Over the last few years, the industry has seen many local and global factors impact the daily business operations. From volatile utility costs directly proceeding the COVID 19 pandemic, to a war that has had significant impacts, the road ahead has felt challenging.

We must also acknowledge the immense pressure on supply chains, particularly on suppliers of raw goods and materials. This pressure has been driven by factors such as inflation and concerns over supply security, like reduced availability of ingredients and bad weather affecting crops, leading to a perfect storm of challenges. Whilst there are some immediate solutions to energy there also must be more support from the new Government to encourage greater adoption of on-site generation and clearer pricing on third party charges for energy bills.

There are however strategies to mitigate these rising costs, and some are easier and quicker to adopt than others. Breaking down into simple tasks is often a way that we help customers set out and plan for not only their net zero requirements but also their cost and carbon reduction in the short and medium term.

There are growing pressures to decarbonise due to net zero targets, economic challenges, and shifting consumer values. Not only is sustainability key to staying relevant and maintaining positive brand perception, it also helps achieve certifications like B-Corp, demonstrating a commitment to both environmental and social responsibility.

Data Visualisation & Optimisation

One of the critical first steps to reducing energy consumption is understanding where it’s going. The simple and cost-effective act of installing meters and submeters will give extraordinary amounts of data, which can be used to drive local efficiencies, and reduce the baseline heat, gas and power consumption before beginning larger projects. Clear data allows for easy optimisations, such as turning key plant equipment on/off or up/down at critical times of the day, which from previous experience could potentially reduce energy consumption by up to 30% on sites that haven’t streamlined operations.

Installing a Building Management System (BMS) or upgrading an old control system can reduce consumption by 10-15%, and it can evolve and grow over time to incorporate more assets and buildings.

Visualising and optimising data not only drives down consumption, but in some cases, can create new revenue streams in flexibility markets too.

Onsite Generation & Renewables

When faced with the challenge of reducing carbon emissions, it’s easy to act upon the most obvious thing that emits carbon – the onsite generation. Whilst this is incredibly important, if the first steps are not taken to reduce and rationalise energy, then systems could be installed in the wrong size, which could lead to higher capital expenditure costs, higher operational expenditure costs and larger overall investment. When considering where to start with onsite generation there are some key considerations. Is the data for the site up to date and accurate? This will drive the overall size of asset that is installed.

Installing solar panels is an incredibly cost-effective way of reducing costs by generating electricity that would normally be imported from the grid. In many cases solar arrays can produce up to 30% of the annual electrical demand and even more if coupled with a battery storage device.

Solar generation can then be used to offset the transition to the electrification of heat. Since the cost of electricity still dwarfs the cost of gas then it can often be challenging to replace fossil fuel burning assets over to greener solutions. However, with the inclusion of solar and also the rationalisation of actual energy consumption many customers are able to achieve similar operational costs when moving to a heat pump for example. The installation and management of the heat pump is incredibly important, and one size almost always doesn’t fit all. There are many technical considerations to be made which is why it’s important to consult with an expert when considering this change as swapping a boiler for a heat pump is not a simple like for like transition.

There are also very unique ways to tackle on site generation. Depending on the customer, there can be instances where a waste biproduct of the production line can be used to re-energise the site and reclaim valuable waste. Where there is excess heat, this can be captured and re-used to pre-heat other areas of the site or converted to electricity to power other processes.

Future Technology and Opportunities

There are many cases where a business has recently invested in assets, such as CHPs, and are now concerned about reducing their emissions. There are options available through technologies such as carbon capture. Where there is a business need to use carbon in the process, such as carbonated beverages or in packaging, then capturing the carbon on site and converting into food grade CO2 can be a viable option. This can give a security of supply while also reducing direct emissions. In some cases, CHPs have been installed as power only or power led assets, where the heat is effectively wasted due to low requirement, the best use case for this would be to share this excess heat with those who have a need locally.

Our future will be made up of mini networks of generating assets that share heating, cooling and power demands across borders to make best use of the available generation. There have been very successful case studies of data centres supplying their excess heat to housing developments or other local off takers. Future developments need not mean brand new technologies, innovation can simply be sharing our resources rather than losing it.

As products and technologies evolve, we will see cost reductions come through maturity of market supply. In the meantime, there are present and real solutions to the cost pressures faced by the food and beverage sector.

Carbon Emissions in the Sector

According to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the food chain is responsible for approximately 20% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. The pressure is on the industry to decarbonise not only from a Scope 1 and 2 perspectives but also from Scope 3, where manufacturers form part of the high street supply chain Scope 3 emissions. Retailers are becoming increasingly aware of the need to partner with environmentally friendly suppliers and subsequently that adds to the pressure of the industry to take action. Those who fall into the UK ETS also need to consider the cost of carbon and the potential for this to increase over the years further challenging the bottom line of customers. Some businesses have also been known to relinquish their B-Corp status because the cost of purchasing carbon credits became untenable. As a result, they decided to focus on their own carbon reduction methods and other initiatives that could better help the planet. With the cost of carbon credits increasing and the validity of sources on the market this brings back the attention of what can be done at a local level.

There is a cost of inaction. Although day to day challenges are mounting for manufacturers there is a growing pressure to secure long term futures that include green production of products. Therefore, we must enable that transition by sharing best practices and guiding businesses to a simple long-term strategy. Removing carbon from operations brings with it many cost benefits. The immediate and obvious benefits are seen in the reduction of energy used and the newly created on site generation avoiding the grid. However also has its long-term benefits that strengthen relationships with customers, retail and end consumers.

Next Steps

The UK food and beverage sector is grappling with rising costs driven by inflation, supply chain disruptions, and energy price increases. These challenges have significant implications for both producers and consumers. Simultaneously, the sector must address its substantial carbon footprint. Through a combination of sustainable practices, technological innovation, and supportive policies, the industry can navigate these challenges and contribute to the UK’s broader environmental goals. Addressing these issues not only supports economic stability but also ensures a more sustainable and resilient food system for the future.

There is no one size fits all solution, but the first step for every organisation is to enlist an expert to look at your data, and come up with a bespoke energy solution.

Vital Energi have been able to shape decarbonisation strategies for organisations across the UK including major malt manufacturers, Simpsons Malt, where we’re reducing their carbon footprint by 25,000 tonnes a year, and Muntons, where we have installed a 14MW biomass boiler.

To find out how we can help you take the first step on your net zero journey, please email [email protected].

We are sharing a powerful and open conversation between Mike Cooke and Simon Jones about something that affects over 50% of the population, and highlights…

Your health comes first – no deadline is more important than your wellbeing.

Support makes a difference – knowing you have colleagues who listen and genuinely care can help more than you think.

Talking matters – sometimes, a simple conversation can be the first step toward getting the support you need.

We’d like to say a huge thank you to Simon for wanting to share his story and for reminding us all why prioritising our health is so important. Watch the video in full here:

Take a moment today to show appreciation for your colleagues and check in with those around you.

Vital Energi have signed a five-year deal with the North West Cambridge Development, providing over 1,000 Eddington residents with a revolutionary way to manage their energy use.

The first phase of the North West Cambridge Development, Eddington, has over 1,100 homes and has been designed with exemplary sustainability specifications to help support a healthy, active and environmentally conscious community.

The North West Cambridge Development has signed up to Glass, keen to encourage online account management in order to reduce paper billing, in line with their sustainability goals. Glass, Vital Energi’s new smart energy app and online portal, allows Eddington residents to access their utility accounts in a way that is easy and convenient for them.

Vital recently developed and launched Glass to give heat network users the visibility and control to better manage their energy use and payments, and it allows users to top-up or pay their bills anytime, anywhere. Using the built-in weather forecast, customers can also predict their future spend.

Glass also provides housing associations, local authorities, developers and other service managers with access to energy consumption and financial data via a dedicated portal. This will allow the North West Cambridge Development to better serve Eddington residents, optimise network performance and effectively reduce debt.

Warren Forsyth, Operations Director at Eddington, said: “We are delighted to have started working with Vital on the heat and estate service charge billing for all Eddington customers.  This will help us further develop and streamline Eddington’s utility billing to the benefit of our customers.”

Vital Energi has been working closely with North West Cambridge Development over the last seven years after supplying, designing and installing their district heating network, and taking over the operation and maintenance of their energy centre.

The Eddington energy centre generates heating and hot water for the homes at Eddington distributed via a district heating network rather than individual gas boilers in each property. This means for efficient use of resources, providing greener, more environmentally friendly heating, hot water and energy, which is a vital part of the sustainability strategy for the North West Cambridge Development.

Click here for more information about Glass.