The Intercommunale de Santé Publique du pays de Charleroi, or ISPPC for short, has been working on its energy transition since 2018. One of the results is the installation of a CHP and solar panels on the site of Marie Curie Hospital in 2021. The project is a beautiful collaboration between Luminus Solutions, Newelec and Dauvister, all three subsidiaries of Luminus, and was also fully financed by Luminus.
The project
The Marie Curie Hospital is an ultra-modern centre with a full range of medical services, especially traumatology, maternity, neonatology and paediatrics.
In 2021, the hospital got a brand new and sustainable electricity and heat production: a CHP installation on natural gas of 1560 kW electric and 1500 solar panels of 500 kW total.
The project is a cooperation between different partners of the Luminus Group. Luminus Solutions built the cogeneration plant, Newelec took care of the electrical installations and auxiliary equipment, and Dauvister installed the photovoltaic panels on the hospital roof.
The heat from the CHP (1750 kWth) is used for heating the building and for domestic hot water. There is also a buffer tank where 54 000 litres of hot water can be stored for use when there is more heat demand than the CHP can produce.
What’s in it for ISPPC?
The installation was paid for by Luminus according to the principle of third-party financing. ISPPC leases the installation for a period of 10 years for the photovoltaic panels and 15 years for the cogeneration. During the entire period, Luminus Solutions and Dauvister will maintain the installations in optimum condition. After that, the CHP will be at the end of its life cycle and the hospital can choose to buy the solar panels.
Together, the two plants supply about 40% of the hospital’s electricity consumption and cover more than 70% of the total heat demand. This amounts to an estimated annual saving of more than €110,000. In addition, the hospital can reduce its carbon footprint by more than 1,500 tonnes of CO2 per year and take a big step towards a greener future.