Cloverfields, a nursing and residential care home for the elderly in Whitchurch, Shropshire, is one of the first in the country to upgrade its heating from gas to a self contained biomass system. The works were carried out by the award winning local renewable specialists, TGE Group, and will save more than 115 tonnes of carbon emissions a year.
Cloverfields is part of a chain of care homes owned by Midlands company, Safe Harbor. As part of the business’ review of energy costs against a long term commitment to renewable and sustainable energy, Safe Harbour selected the Whitchurch home as the first in the chain to have its heating updated from gas to biomass.
TGE Group was appointed to audit the company’s needs and design a system that would take into account the site’s limited external space and the possibility of extending the home by a further 20 bedrooms. The company also wanted to upgrade the existing heat distribution system and remove the existing, outdated boilers which were beyond economic repair.
TGE Group recommended that a self contained, 198kW biomass system should be installed to overcome space restrictions and lessen disruption on site. The 40ft container was pre-assembled in the TGE Group warehouse with two cascading 99kW Schmid pellet biomass boilers, twin flues, thermal store, pump controls and fuel store along with electrics and piping that were connected on site.
The container was clad with tantalised timber in order to better complement its semi rural setting and was lowered by crane directly onto concrete footings. Heat mains were then laid to the nearby plant room and the system was rigorously tested and commissioned.
The new biomass boiler will be more reliable, easier to monitor and will save 115 tonnes of carbon emissions each year over the existing system, as well as offering a return on investment of 20% with a pay back of just five years.
Philip Morris, director at Safe Harbor commented, “Our previous gas heating system was costly, unreliable and outdated. Our decision to move to biomass is part of Safe Harbor’s push to a more sustainable business model and we’d like to thank TGE Group for making the switch so easy for us.”
Matthew Evans, heat director of TGE Group, added: “Biomass is well suited to the high heat and energy requirement of care homes and Safe Harbor is set to make a good return from the heat they generate from the Renewable Heat Incentive. The self contained biomass unit meant no building work was required on site, there was minimal disruption and, as it is a non permanent structure, planning was simplified”.
Headquartered in Cheshire, TGE Group provides renewable energy systems for clients in the commercial, agricultural and public sectors. The company covers renewable energy technologies including solar, biomass and heat pumps and can install single or multiple technologies to help customers reduce energy costs.
