Carbon-neutral development opens its Energy Centre

The Energy Centre was designed and installed by Regeneco while the Graylingwell Park site was developed by Linden Homes and Affinity Sutton in partnership with the Homes and Communities Agency.

Simon Hyams, a director at Regeneco, said: ‘We have designed and built the Energy Centre and also supported a strategy in terms of achieving a 37 per cent carbon reduction, which is equal to planting 15,000 trees.’

The gas-powered Energy Centre is reported to provide heating and hot water for all 750 homes at Graylingwell Park in Chichester while feeding surplus electricity to the National Grid.

Regeneco claims it is the dual generation of heat and electricity from the same source that makes the Energy Centre extremely efficient and a contributing factor in Graylingwell Park achieving net zero carbon status.

The Energy Centre comprises four 1.1MW hot-water boilers, two 500kW combined heat and power engines and two 48,000-litre thermal stores. Heat and hot water is centrally stored before it is pumped around the development through an 8km network of highly insulated underground pipes, thereby removing the need for residents to own their own boilers.