The Energy Trilemma – an affordable, sustainable, and secure power supply – is a pressing global issue, and in the UK, this is nowhere more urgent than in the NHS. Budget constraints are at their tightest, energy prices are at their highest, and the sector has some of the most stringent targets for reaching Net Zero. Andrew Donald, senior Business Development manager at Powerstar, looks at the funding that can help Trusts transition to clean energy, and the technology available to reduce costs, lower emissions, and ensure the secure power supply so vital to public health
The British Medical Journal1 recently noted that NHS Trusts are being forced to find as much as an additional £2 m a month over the winter to cope with energy price rises – for some Trusts, equating to more than a 200% increase in gas and electricity budgeting for 2022-2023. This makes the government commitment to continue funding to help decarbonise the estate more welcome than ever – largely through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) and, since September last year, its latest phase – Phase 3b, focusing on heating system upgrades, to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and support the move to cleaner, and cheaper, renewable energy sources.
While this latest round of PSDS funding highlights heating as a crucial aspect of decarbonisation, with heating replacement an essential component for any application, the overarching emphasis is true to the ethos of the Scheme, and energy efficiency is still at its core. Successful applications from previous rounds of PSDS demonstrate the synergy between heating
replacement and other, complementary, energy-saving strategies. For example, one London Trust secured £10 m for heat pump, solar, and battery installation, and upgrades to lighting, while Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was awarded around £500,000 to install an air source heat pump, with battery storage and electrical upgrades to support lower carbon emissions. Crucially, when considering a holistic energy management and decarbonisation strategy, this combination of heat pump technology with solar, renewable generation, and battery energy storage, can help offset any increase in electrical demand from the new heat system, while also giving Trusts greater flexibility and improved options for energy management.
Modern Battery Energy Storage Systems
In the context of the Energy Trilemma, a modern Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), especially when combined with a smart microgrid and control system, really comes into its own. The ambitious decarbonising targets for the NHS – a commitment to achieving Net Zero by 2045 – place heavy demands on a beleaguered health service, and the pressures of affordability and security of energy supply are just as pressing as this legally binding journey to carbon neutrality
The need for emergency power, in case of any disruption to the Grid supply, is critical to the safe running of the NHS, but older technology – traditional Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) – is fast becoming untenable in the current economic and geopolitical landscape. Trusts are increasingly moving to BESS technology, to help reduce emissions and harness the many benefits this technology offers – specifically, the capacity to earn new revenue to offset energy price increases, and to make the most of locally generated renewable energy. The cheapest, and ‘greenest’ unit of energy is the one you don’t use, and battery storage is already giving Trusts across the UK the ability to manage energy from multiple sources with affordability, sustainability, and security of supply.
Security of energy, but with significant costs
A traditional UPS offers security of energy supply to vital equipment, providing the necessary seamless transition from mains electricity to back-up supply in the event of any disruption. However, this security comes with significant costs – energy losses that have always proved expensive, alongside unnecessary carbon emissions. Despite being idle most of the time, a traditional UPS will be constantly switching between AC and DC, typically losing between 10 and 15% capacity. For an average hospital installation, this can mean a waste of more than £260,000, and a needless increase in CO2e of about 210 tonnes. By contrast, a BESS will protect an entire site, rather than just individual pieces of equipment, while consuming about 90% less electricity.
Additional functions
Constant monitoring of the Grid supply enables ultra-fast switching – within 10 ms – meaning that the battery can perform many additional functions when its UPS capability is not required. When one NHS hospital in South Yorkshire approached Powerstar to advise on their power resilience strategy, seamless UPS was clearly critical to any solution for energy saving and emission reduction. As the first UPS of its type with full HTM 06-01 compliance, the 500 kW / 500 kWh BESS installed by Powerstar has reduced energy costs to the hospital by approximately £225,000 per year, while eliminating 190 tonnes of CO2e. With ultra-fast switching, it provides the seamless UPS capabilities needed by the hospital; on just one day last April, it supported the full load for 15 seconds when the Grid supply failed, and for 23 seconds in a second event, ensuring that critical care facilities at the hospital could continue, uninterrupted. This new system was installed at the hospital as a fully containerised switchroom, meaning minimal disruption on site, and helping ensure that the hospital would function without interruption. The full case study for this project is available on the Powerstar website
Flexibility to store energy
Perhaps the greatest asset of a BESS, though, is its capability to offer the flexibility to store energy – whether generated on-site through renewables such as roof-top solar arrays, or drawn from the Grid at off-peak times to be either used at peak times or to be sold to the Grid, enabling Trusts to take part in Grid Balancing schemes, and to generate a new revenue stream. Intrinsic to battery storage is the opportunity it gives to engage with Demand Side Response (DSR) and Firm Frequency Response (FFR) contracts, which can equate to around £100,000 of new annual revenue for an average NHS Trust. This means not just more sustainable, secure emergency UPS, but also better capability for Electric Vehicle (EV) charging – meaning greener and more sustainable transport – as well as a welcome reduction in energy costs. This is a particularly pressing point for the NHS, which has ambitions to have switched at least 90% of its fleet to lowemissions options – largely EVs – by 2028.
To make this happen is a major undertaking, with a rapid EV charger generally requiring between 100 kW and 350 kW. To simply add this to the estate may well not be feasible without embarking on a major infrastructure project – a larger Grid connection and increased supply capacity. In the current context, when we are all aware of the issues of insecure energy supply across the UK, a BESS can be used to buffer large power demands. In this instance, the battery charges slowly from the Grid, and then delivers high energy discharge when needed, which is particularly helpful for EV charging, and for single, large loads required by vital equipment such as MRI scanners.
Grid balancing schemes
To help maximise and boost energy budgets, Trusts are increasingly engaging in Grid Balancing schemes – whether DSR or FFR contracts – and these Trusts are at the forefront of the move from fossil-fuelled, centralised energy supply to the more distributed, localised energy generation model that will play an increasing role in our energy supply for the foreseeable future. For BESS users, income generation opportunities can come through a direct contract with the Grid, with the Distribution Network Operator (DNO), or through an aggregator service. Trusts contracting in this way can fulfil their obligations by turning up, turning down, or offsetting, energy demands in real-time, which helps the Grid to smooth out peaks and troughs in the country’s overall electricity demand. While FFR contracts are more stringent, in that they require response times of 30 seconds or less, BESS technology is ideal for meeting these requirements, given its instantaneous response time. The income available from Grid Balancing can be a significant advantage for NHS Estate managers looking to bring in new revenue while maintaining control over energy budgets
Funding for CHP technology
Many NHS Trusts have secured PSDS funding to implement Combined Heat and Power (CHP) technology, which, like solar on-site generation, is making for more sustainable energy, and reducing Trusts’ complete dependence on the Grid. In this scenario, and for any site with the type of complex operations and demands seen across the NHS, a smart microgrid and control system is a hugely beneficial asset. A microgrid covers a site, such as a hospital, enabling it to operate independently from the Grid when necessary, since it is generating its own electricity. While the site will, of course, be reliant on the National Grid for most energy requirements, in the current energy landscape – and energy security is nowhere more vital than in the NHS – the energy management software behind a microgrid enables the blending of power purchased from the Grid to be balanced with that generated on-site – usually from solar or CHP. BESS technology works hand in hand with both of these energy generation options. For solar, a BESS enables inherently inflexible energy to be stored and used when required, while for CHP, battery storage ensures that the CHP will continue to function in the event of power disruption, keeping it independently operational.
Control system at the heart
At the heart of a smart microgrid is the control system, to aid decision-making over energy management and power generation, storage, and demand. Software controls multiple power flows with automatic, AI-driven asset prioritisation to optimise energy usage across the site. Where Trusts have invested in on-site renewables, weather forecasting gleaned from historical data and load predictions can enable AI analysis to make real-time decisions, helping to manage energy usage and strategic load planning more effectively. Controllable technology across the estate is fed data via a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), which enables the AI model to make intelligent decisions. For an organisation as complex as the NHS, this AI-learning capacity can harness a vast amount of data, helping to better inform Trusts’ Energy mangers in real-time.
Resolving the Energy Trilemma presents huge issues for the NHS. Competing agendas of affordability, sustainability, and energy security, are difficult for any organisation, especially in the current economic and political climate. For the NHS, as the country’s largest employer – accounting for more than seven per cent of the UK’s GDP – the issues are immediate and pressing. However, this very scale means that measures taken in the NHS to work towards Net Zero will have wider impacts, and reduce the carbon footprint of the UK as a whole. Smart energy management strategies, incorporating the latest battery storage technology, are helping Trusts mitigate the problems of the three arms of the Trilemma: helping to reduce costs and optimise greener and cleaner energy sources, all the while ensuring the secure power supply that is, quite literally, critical. A copy of Powerstar’s healthcare energy white paper, NHS White Paper: Solving the Healthcare Sector’s Energy Trilemma, can be downloaded at https://powerstar.com/ white-papers/
Andrew Donald
Andrew Donald is a senior Business Development manager at energy technology manufacturing specialist, Powerstar. He joined Powerstar after seven years working for Centrica in the public sector space. He has vast experience across the private, public, and third sectors, in a senior role at British Gas, as director for Wales for Virgin Media, and as CEO of Ospreys Rugby. As Chair of the Gorseinon Development Trust, and Chair of Finance at Gower College, he has ‘a deep understanding of public sector funding, and the issues and challenges it can bring’. At Powerstar, he specialises in delivering complex, fully compliant, and cost-effective solutions for public sector organisations, particularly within the healthcare sector.
With extensive experience of working in energy efficiency across the public sector, Andrew Donald champions Net Zero target achievement within the NHS, providing advice and support for Trusts and healthcare organisations looking for technology solutions to help them balance the competing pressures that make up the Energy Trilemma. Given his deep understanding of the finance and complexities faced by the sector – particularly in the current economic climate – he is an advocate for, and an expert on, energy management solutions for the NHS and the wider public sector.
References 1 Exclusive: Hospitals will be hit with “eye watering” energy bills this winter. BMJ 2022; 378:o2088 https://www.bmj.com/ content/378/bmj.o2088.full