ADE Homes and Communities Project of the Year Award: (l-r) Oliver Holt, Project Manager, E.ON; Kim Bloxham, Cranbrook Town Council; Lord Risby, President, ADE; Kate Jenkins Key Account Manager, E.ON; Jamie Brookes, Senior Project Development Manager, E.ON; Tim Rotheray, ADE Director

Cranbrook and Skypark power through at energy awards

Cranbrook and Skypark has won two major industry awards for the low carbon district heating system which powers the new community and neighbouring business park.

It was a clean sweep for E.ON and project partners as the scheme won ‘Overall Project of the Year’ and the ‘Homes and Communities Project of the Year’ category at the prestigious Association for Decentralised Energy Awards (ADE Awards) held in London this week (23 November 2016).

The awards showcase innovation, best practice and achievement across combined heat and power, district heating and demand response and energy services. This year’s ceremony was held at London’s Natural History Museum.

Shortlisted for the “Homes and Communities Project of the Year” E.ON (Cranbrook and Skypark) was up against British Gas (BGreen, Oldham) and SSE (Elmsbrook, North West Bicester) and having won that category the team took their seats for a few minutes more before the being called to the stage again to be awarded “Overall Project of the Year”.

East Devon District Council, supported by the HCA (Homes and Communities Agency), facilitated a negotiation between developers and E.ON for the construction of an energy centre and heat network in 2010.

At Cranbrook, where there are now 1,500 homes connected to the power plant, approximately 2,900 homes will be fuelled through the first phase of residential development. The system is expected to provide an estimated 13,000 tonnes of CO2 savings per year, the equivalent of removing 5,200 cars from the road.

Cllr Paul Diviani, Leader of East Devon District Council, said: “This is wonderful news for East Devon, E.ON and most of all, the environment!

"This incredible double accolade from The Association for Decentralised Energy lets the rest of the energy and development industry know that what we are doing here, with regards to providing low carbon energy for residents in Cranbrook and businesses in Skypark and protecting the environment, is truly groundbreaking.”

Jeremy Bungey, Head of Community Energy at E.ON, said: “This was clearly a proud moment for E.ON and our Cranbrook and Skypark team. More than that, it is recognition of the hard work that has gone into developing our new community and I hope our partners at the district and city councils, the Growth Point, our developer partners and most importantly the people of Cranbrook share in that.”

The Science Bit

The project includes many other technologies including Solar Thermal, Solar Photovoltaic, Heat Pump, Thermal Storage and AMR (Automatic Meter Reading).

To date, the Energy Centre has a carbon saving of 28%. These carbon savings will increase as the development grows. The Energy Centre plant is fitted with a full management system which is connected to our control centre which allows E.ON to monitor and manage remotely.

There is also a solar thermal project under way, the first of its kind in the UK. This innovative project combines a 1,814m2 solar array and a heat pump, capable of generating up to 2 MWth heat. It is the largest solar thermal array in the UK and the first demonstration of using a combined system of renewables and non-renewables in a large scale district heating (DH) system.

For more information visit:

https://www.eonenergy.com/for-your-business/community-energy/what-is-com...