Cofely makes progress with Olympic Energy Centre

25 November 2009

The Olympic Park Energy Centre, which being constructed by GDF Suez Energy Services through its subsidiary Cofely East London Energy, will be one of the largest to be built in the UK.

The Energy Centre is being constructed in the west of the Olympic Park and will provide an efficient heating and cooling system across Olympic Park site for the Games and for the new buildings and communities that will develop after 2012. The Energy Centre will include biomass boilers using sustainable biomass fuels to generate heat, and a CCHP plant to capture the heat generated by electricity production. The Energy Centre includes a range of sustainability features helping to reduce the carbon emissions of the Park.
During the Games the Centre will provide heating, cooling (for air conditioning) and power for the venues across the Park. After the Games it will contribute power to, and provide heating and cooling for, the local area. The project which is being built by is one of the largest energy centre schemes to be built so far in the UK.
The Olympic Park Energy Centre is being constructed by GDF Suez Energy Services, through its subsidiary Cofely East London Energy, together with approximately 16km of Community Energy Networks. The construction of the Energy Centre is being financed by GDF Suez Energy Services who will recover their investment through the long term operation rights of the new infrastructure. Due for completion in spring 2010, construction work started on the Energy Centre began in August 2008 and so far the installation has -
 More than 200 piles installed more than 20m in length to form the foundations of the building
 Over 500 tonnes of steel installed to create the frame of the Energy Centre which will be 45m tall at its highest point
 3,500 square metres of concrete ‘planks’ lifted into place to form the floors and roof of the Energy Centre
 5 cooling towers lifted into place as the first of the major plant to be installed at the energy centre. These towers are each the size of a small house
 3 hotwater boilers installed each around 60 tonnes in total
 Work now underway to install the steel cladding around the outer shell of the Energy Centre
 Work well underway on roof replacement works and structural improvements to the retained Victorian building.
ODA Director of Infrastructure and Utilities Simon Wright said: ‘Sustainability is at the heart of the 2012 project and the Energy Centre will ensure a lasting legacy of green power in the Olympic Park for generations to come. The state-of-the-art Energy Centre will be one of the largest in the UK and the lean, mean and green sustainability features that underpin this project will set a model for future urban regeneration schemes.’
The Energy Centre will include a range of sustainability features to create a ‘mean, lean and green’ building helping to reduce the carbon emissions of the Olympic Park and setting a benchmark for future regeneration schemes.
The building is designed to be ‘mean, lean and green’. For example, it is ‘mean’ by using recycled materials and a derelict Victorian building to house key parts of the Energy Centre equipment. The Centre will be ‘lean’ by using heating and cooling networks designed to minimise losses. It will also be ‘green’ by using recycled wastewater for the Energy Centre cooling towers.
ODA Director of Infrastructure and Utilities Simon Wright said: 'Sustainability is at the heart of the 2012 project and the Energy Centre will ensure a lasting legacy of green power in the Olympic Park for generations to come. The state-of-the-art Energy Centre will be one of the largest in the UK and the lean, mean and green sustainability features that underpin this project will set a model for future urban regeneration schemes.'

http://www.london2012.com