Introduction

The fuel cell combined heat and power (CHP) system is located in Woking Park and serves the Leisure Lagoon, Pool In The Park (competition and training pools) and Woking Leisure Centre (dry sports centre) and is the first fuel cell CHP in the UK.
The fuel cell CHP is visible to the public and is provided with a technology information mural/display and viewing area for education purposes which includes the history of the fuel cell, how the system works in Woking Park and how renewable energy can be integrated with the Hydrogen Economy to provide continuous renewable energy for the world’s electrical, thermal and transport energy needs.

Objectives and target audience

In December 2002, the Council’s energy efficiency policy was replaced by the Climate Change Strategy for Woking, not just for Council buildings and transport but for the Borough as a whole, shifting the focus from savings in kWh’s of energy to savings in tonnes of CO2 as well as adapting to a changing climate. The key three objectives of the strategy were:-

• Adopting an overall target to reduce Woking’s CO2 equivalent emissions to 80% of its 1990 level by 2090 in steps of 10% up to 2050 and 5% from 2050 to 2090;
• Adopting the concept of an Environmental Footprint for the Borough which has as its base 1,060,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions of greenhouse gases;
• Declaring itself Climate Neutral and setting up a Climate Change Fund.

As part of a number of action plans the Strategy adopts targets for purchasing 20% of the Council’s electrical energy requirements from renewable sources and 100% of the Council’s electrical and thermal energy requirements from sustainable energy (including CHP) sources by 2010/11.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

The total capital and installation costs of the fuel cell CHP element only of the project is £1,046,774h.  The replacement of the fuel cell stack at 40,000 hours is included within the maintenance costs.  Here is the breakdown of who is financing the project;

The Department of Trade and Industry                         £ 175,215
Advantica Technologies Ltd                                          £ 150,000
Woking Borough Council/Thameswey Energy Ltd        £ 578,699
US Dept. of Defence via US Dept. of Energy                £ 142,860 (@ $1.40/£)
£1,046,774

An additional £125,000 was also awarded to the Council by the Energy Savings Trust Residential CHP Programme to enable surplus power from Phases1 and 2 of the project to be exported over public wires to sheltered housing residents under the Exempt Licensing regime.

Process

The tasks that were taken as part of the project are as follows:-
Exploratory meeting, Conceptual design, Consortium established, OJEC advertisements, Pre-tender expressions of interest, Approval for DTI support, Tender specification, US Fuel Cell Climate Change Grant, First Planning approval, UTC (IFC) Fuel Cell Contract let, First Installation Tender exercise, Second Installation Tender exercise, Tender Evaluation, Balance of funding established, Turnkey Contract let, Second Planning approval, Installation Contract let, Fuel Cell Inspection at UTC (IFC), USA, Delivery to site Testing and commissioning.

Results

The aims and objectives of the project which was to design, install and operate a fuel cell
CHP system in Woking Park, the first fuel cell CHP system in the United Kingdom was
achieved.  The planning process was a success only because of an understanding of the process by the Council officers involved in the project and the time and effort taken to submit detailed environmental information, to educate non technical people in an understanding of fuel cell technology and hydrogen and personal briefings given to planning officers and Councilors.  Detailed work had to be put into the design process which was not unexpected for a project of this innovation and Council officers had previous experience with other innovative projects which helped to smooth the process.  The installation element of the project also teased out a few minor but potentially very important issues to be dealt with such as the uneven distribution of weight of the PC25C and the need for special lifting eyes for delivery.  The operation and maintenance elements of the project, and in particular the commissioning and the 3 months settling in process, provided valuable experience to all those concerned with the project in the UK.  The economic performance of the fuel cell CHP was better than predicted, bearing in mind the high cost of the PC25C.  The environmental performance of the fuel cell CHP was excellent, as confirmed by the CHPQA programme. The fuel cell CHP out performed photovoltaics in terms of reductions in CO2 emissions (more than 10 times the performance) even though the fuel cell CHP consumed a fossil fuel, albeit a low carbon fuel: natural gas.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

The factors for success are:-

• Various partners were involved in financing the project.  A figure of £1,046,774 was granted towards the implementation of this project and with out his backing, this project would not have been able to occur;
• This project also has other advantages as well as the purpose of being a CHP system.  Such advantages include its educational purposes which include the history of the fuel cell and how the system works.