A renewable geothermal heating and cooling system, energy-saving windows, and smarter building controls are to be installed across Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust’s estate as it partners with E.ON to hit ambitious energy reduction targets.

Under a 15-year energy efficiency contract, improvements will be made at the Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) site in Nottingham.

At the heart of the initiative will be a new £15m energy centre providing low-carbon heating and cooling for the hospital.

Built and operated by E.ON, the centre will house four high-efficiency heat pumps that extract heat from the air, and will also draw from the natural warmth of the earth.

This partnership offers a creative solution to meeting our energy needs and tackling climate change, while at the same time improving patient and staff comfort by allowing us to better manage temperatures within our buildings

To do that, 64 boreholes descending up to 250m under the ground will provide the hospital with a sustainable low-carbon energy source.

The project, costing a total of £64m, is expected to cut QMC’s carbon emissions by 10,000 tonnes of CO₂ – or 30% – a year initially, increasing to around 43% once the current gas-fired heating system is decommissioned.

A creative solution

The trust is the largest recipient of funding from Phase 3 of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, initiated by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and delivered by Salix Finance. 

The programme is being facilitated by the Carbon and Energy Fund (CEF), which manages complex energy infrastructure upgrades for the NHS.

Anthony May, chief executive of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “This partnership demonstrates our significant commitment to environmental sustainability and offers a creative solution to meeting our energy needs and tackling climate change, while at the same time improving patient and staff comfort by allowing us to better manage temperatures within our buildings.

“Innovative projects like these will play a hugely-important role in helping us meet our ambitious goal of achieving a net zero carbon operation for heating and cooling system emissions by 2040.”

Chris Norbury, E.ON UK chief executive, added: “Tackling the environmental impact of heating, especially in densely-populated areas, is key to meeting the UK’s net zero targets.

“Part of that urgent challenge is re-imagining how energy is provided to homes, businesses, and cities to explore what can be done to take action and reduce carbon on a large scale.”

Reducing costs

The trust and E.ON are already working with Wilmott Dixon and Acorn Aluminium to replace around 12,000 single-glazed windows on the 38-acre QMC campus, increasing energy efficiency by reducing heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer, as well as improving comfort for patients, visitors, and staff.

A new building management system run by E.ON Control Solutions will also improve control of the building and its equipment, optimising energy efficiency to improve sustainability and reduce energy costs.

The first phase of the energy centre development will install a 4MW heat pump with 2.88MW cooling capacity to support the QMC’s existing gas turbine and standby boilers.

Innovative projects like these will play a hugely-important role in helping us meet our ambitious goal of achieving a net zero carbon operation for heating and cooling system emissions by 2040

Phase two will increase the heat pump solution to 8MW of heating capacity – the equivalent to the heat demand of almost 4,600 average UK homes – complemented by a further 5.8MW of new cooling capacity.

The innovative heat pump and borehole solution will cut the carbon emissions associated with heating and cooling by more than 40% and help to improve local air quality by reducing nitrogen oxide emissions.

Ian Rodger, Salix Finance director of programmes, said: “This is an exciting time for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust as it takes major steps to reduce its carbon emissions.

“It is an important project and Salix will work very closely with the trust to support it in meeting its deadlines and major benchmarks during its decarbonisation journey.

“Not only will this have a significant impact for the environment, but also for the community and everyone who uses trust facilities across its sites.”

Clive Nattrass, Carbon and Energy Fund chief executive, added: “Replacing six miles of windows in a live hospital, recovering from COVID backlog, has made this project especially challenging.

“It has taken close partnership working between Salix, the Trust, E.ON and the CEF to keep this ambitious project on track, towards being an exemplar ‘whole site’ project for the whole NHS.”

Feeling the heat

The QMC’s new heat pumps, boreholes, and heat recovery system work alongside the hospital’s existing combined heat and power plant, providing a more-sustainable source of heating and cooling as well as a source of electricity to the hospital.

The heat pumps use electricity and can either generate heat from the outside air, or can take renewable heat from the earth through the 64 boreholes drilled beneath the hospital site.

The heat pumps can also recycle waste heat from the hospital’s cooling systems and excess heat can either be saved for future use in the thermal stores within the energy centre, or pumped down into the boreholes for longer term storage.

This process cuts carbon emissions and running costs by reducing demand for fossil fuels.