BUPA

Bupa were concerned about the suitability of their load profile for whole-site VO. The primary concern was that of “risk”, avoiding any adverse effect on the operation of sensitive medical equipment was paramount. The secondary concern was the extent of the energy saving to be gained, as a large proportion of the electrical equipment in use was electronics based so which delivers little or no energy saving from VO. After carrying out an extensive survey of two separate sites we confirmed that Bupa’s concerns were rightly justified. We identified that the sites energy consumption was equally split across the admin/building services block and the residential wings. Only the energy consumption of the admin block could be significantly reduced by the implementation of VO.It therefore made more sense both operationally and commercially to opt for a localised VO approach. It totally removed any operation “risk” issues; it reduced the cost of the project whilst delivering a similar level of saving to the whole site approach. Energy savings have been monitored and are exactly as predicted in our business case prior to installation.