Hospital electricity and heat from a gas turbine

Published: 15 April, 2010

• WITH reference to your story (Incinerator burning clinical waste to generate Royal Free’s electricity, March 18), I would like to correct some of the many factual errors.
There has been no incinerator at the Royal Free for 15 years and we have not carried out incineration on the site since this time.
A press release supplied to your reporter made very clear that the trust’s new energy centre consists of new boilers and a combined heat and power unit (CHP). At no point does the release mention an incinerator. It is the new CHP, a gas turbine, which will generate electricity and heat. The exhaust gases from the turbine are directed through a heat recovery boiler which generates steam that is then used for heating and cooling in the hospital, making the process very efficient.This pioneering centre, the first of its kind in the NHS to use this technology, will produce heat and hot water for the hospital while also reducing our carbon emissions and saving the trust around £850,000 each year – or around 20 per cent of our utility bills. The scheme will also enable us to exceed the NHS target of reducing our carbon footprint by 10 per cent by 2015.
MARTYN JEFFERY
Director of Estates
The Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust