Biomass for Kent Care Home

Saxon Court is a residential care home set in about 5 acres of stunning countryside. The buildings were dependent upon oil and electric to provide heat and hot water for an internal area totaling over 1,500 square metres. The challenge was finding a location for a single plant room – and working in an occupied care home with high-dependency residents with special needs.

EnergyMyWay specified a containerised plant room that was assembled off-site to the precise needs of the project. The ‘Energy Cabin’ contained 2 x 100 kW Fröling Pellet Biomass Boilers that are synchronized to work in cascade mode. These burners heat a 5,000 litre buffer tank, which is also on board the container. The container also includes an integrated 14-tonne pellet fuel store with automatic suction feed to the boilers. The hot water is pumped down pre-laid heat main pipes to each building and terminates on a heat exchanger plate. Upgraded internal plumbing then connects to these terminals.

EnergyMyWay project managed the entire solution, preparing a base for a 40ft high cube shipping container modified as a plant room. Heat mains to each building were laid below ground, with internal building connections to each building heating and hot water circuit. The container was craned into position. The entire project took just two weeks to install.

The new biomass boiler system qualifies for the government’s non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive, which will pay £25,000 a year to Saxon Court, every year for 20 years as part of the government’s strategy for incentivising low-carbon energy use.