ENGIE wins double accolade at ADE Awards 2017

ENGIE is celebrating after being announced as winners in two categories at the Association of Decentralised Energy (ADE) Awards 2017.

The Southampton District Energy scheme picked up Commercial Project of the Decade, whilst Birmingham were recognised as Public Sector Project of the Decade.

The accolades were presented at the Awards dinner last night (Thursday 19 November), held at the Science Museum in London, where guests came together to celebrate the successes of the decentralised energy industry.

The Commercial Project of the Decade award recognised how Southampton, one of the UK’s oldest and largest commercially developed district energy schemes, has grown by 50% in the past ten years. Developing year on year since it was established in the 1980s, the scheme now sells approximately 43GWh of heat per year generating 27GWh of electricity and cooling of 10GWh per year. The scheme benefits from a strong partnership with Southampton City Council and has thousands of customers supplied via its heat network and five energy centres to ensure a 24-hour heat supply.

At the ADE awards ceremony, ENGIE was also named winner of the Public Sector Project of the Decade with the Birmingham District Energy Scheme, which celebrated its innovation, low carbon and social and community benefits.

The award winning Birmingham scheme boasts a mixture of tri-generation and co-generation energy centres, supplying Council buildings, Aston University, Birmingham New Street Station and the Birmingham Children’s Hospital amongst other customers.  Users benefit from reliable supply with reduced carbon emissions in addition to lower energy costs. The scheme is an active partnership with Birmingham Council, and on a city wide scale, is already making a significant contribution to the Council’s target of reducing carbon by 60% by 2027, and expansion plans will ensure this contribution grows.

Speaking about the Award wins, Ben Watts, Managing Director of Urban Energy at ENGIE, commented: “We are delighted to win these two awards from the ADE. The Southampton and Birmingham schemes both demonstrate the tangible financial, environmental and social benefits that decentralised energy schemes can deliver, when effective partnerships are created between the public and private sector”.

ENGIE was also shortlisted in three other categories:

Homes and communities project of the decade: Pimlico District Heating Undertaking, London, the UK’s first district energy network, built over 65 years ago, has evolved to provide heat to over 3,000 homes, 50 commercial premises and 3 schools.

Innovation award of the decade: Coventry District Energy Scheme. The first project of its kind in the UK; ENGIE buys heat from an Energy from Waste plant, ‘ships’ it via a network of pipes and sells it at a competitive rate to consumers in the city.

Integrated energy project of the decade: East London Energy Scheme, the highest investment district energy project installed in the UK over the past decade, initially serving the 2012 Olympics and now supplying a large range of commercial and domestic customers.

Source: ENGIE