Public procurement notice: Prior Information Notice Without Call For Competition
Published: 2019-12-27
Buyer: Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
CPV classification: 42511110

Technical requirements: Feasibility and Design of Replacement Chiller Plant to Deliver Significant Carbon Reduction by Provision of Extracted Heat into Domestic Hot Water System and Reversible Heat/Cooling Pump Systems
This PIN provides prior notification and invites responses of interest (with no obligation) for a forthcoming tender expected in early 2020 for feasibility and design work, including estimated costings and financial projections, covering replacement of an ageing chiller and domestic hot water plant that can deliver significant carbon reduction by using energy entrained in an existing chilled water loop to provide domestic hot water heating.
Initially focus is at Southend Hospital and in particular the Cardigan wing which is principally women’s and children services and includes in-patient facilities as well as theatres.
The study will also include a detailed overview of the potential for the decarbonisation of Hospital heating services.
The Group will be utilizing their procurement portal — sourcing cloud to run this exercise, please ensure you are registered https://suppliers.multiquote.com Once you have registered please express your interest to kim.Hillman@meht.nhs.uk to be invited to the project. At this stage we are looking for expressions of interest in this opportunity by 10.1.2020.
The Trust seeks offers for ultra-low carbon heating and cooling equipment to provide domestic hot water, chilled water and mid temperature water for fan coil heaters. The preferred technical solution is for an integrated refrigeration scheme that takes care of cooling and heating from the same set of equipment. Overall capacities are up to 75 kW for sanitary water heating, up to 240 kW for mid temperature water heating and up to 180 kW for chilled water. Target water temperatures are 62 DegC, 48 DegC and 8 DegC respectively.
Interest is sought from suppliers that can demonstrate effective and efficient heating and chilling systems that are innovative and carbon reducing. Suppliers should have a solid track record with this type of equipment in acute health care settings.
In general terms the bid will be adjudicated against a broad set of criteria, including carbon efficiency, maintainability, repeatability in other parts of the estate, speed of installation and the ability to be expanded by way of modular add-ons in the future.
Suppliers’ dual temperature refrigerating designs should also incorporate ways of reducing the carbon intensity of electricity used in their systems, either by way of direct photovoltaic power and/or through time shifting methods such as Demand Side Response (DSR). Suppliers should be able to demonstrate practical working examples that are able to de-couple from the grid by means of solar arrays and/or energy storage systems. Providing an integrated thermal and electrical system that operates at the highest possible carbon efficiency should be the guiding principle behind the requested design.
Given the prospective water hygiene issue for temperatures in the Domestic Hot Water plant there needs to have been a considered and demonstrated practical solution to the avoidance and control of bacteria such as legionella.
It is envisaged that the delivered equipment would use high efficiency power electronics to directly drive variable speed motors, balance heating and cooling loads and to automatically receive and store power from the most carbon beneficial source. Be that solar arrays, battery energy systems, thermal storage vessels or other sustainable power sources.
To maximise efficiency we would expect power converters to be cross connected through a DC wiring arrangement to form in effect a DC nanogrid. Moreover we would wish to build in the option of amalgamating various future systems of this type across some form of DC microgrid. The eventual microgrid we have in mind could feasibly reach an aggregate electrical capacity of several hundreds of kilowatts. The vendor’s computing solution should be specifically adapted to the harmonised thermal and electrical system we describe here, both in the short term and via extension, across the long run too.
A gradual but comprehensive switch over to low carbon M&E infrastructure is at the centre of the Hospital’s long run sustainability plan. The switch is likely to take several years and to be executed in numerous phases of works. It is essential therefore that bidders are able to demonstrate designs that can be delivered in such a way that very high carbon efficiency is achieved not just by the works described here but also in a manner that can be scaled-up across various phases of works so that eventually multiple distributed plants can be operated under one overarching renewable energy and controls regime. Large, unified plants might be the best means of providing sustainable heating and cooling services in a new-build scenario but that is not the case here.
This PIN has been published for the purpose of market engagement only. For the avoidance of doubt, this market engagement exercise implies no commercial commitment and is not a formal tender process. The group has published documentation at https://suppliers.multiquote.com