EQUANS has installed a new cold unit at Verviers CHR. A reliable, low energy consumption cold facility, which will enable the hospital to feed essential systems, while avoiding the emission of 10 tonnes of CO2 per annum.
The existing Verviers CHR cold production had reached the end of its working life. Its reliability was suspect and it lacked output. In parallel, the hospital had expanded and been renovated; its cold needs for air conditioning and chilling of medical installations had increased significantly. One of the former cold units had recently been replaced completely by a new unit delivering 500kW. A replacement brought to a successful conclusion by EQUANS, which managed the project from A to Z.
Reliable and powerful cold unit
A cold unit works like a large boiler. It produces iced water which is distributed throughout the hospital via a hydraulic network. This water will feed and chill machines such as the MRI, radiology, coronarography or technical systems such as ventilation units. Its reliability is therefore crucial. However, the increasing needs of Verviers CHR also needed a more powerful cold unit. Neither should we forget that, in recent years, outside temperatures have peaked at 40°C (in comparison with 32°C earlier) pushing the machines beyond their limits.
Global solution
EQUANS has worked for 16 years at Verviers CHR, which is now part of the Liège CHU hospital network. Our teams are responsible for maintenance and satisfactory operation of the HVAC installations. This is why the hospital has called on EQUANS to carry out the complete replacement of a 500kW cold unit: the handling of the unit on the hospital roof, hydraulic and electrical connections to the existing facility and for updating the regulation requiring an electrical and programming modification. This project was extremely important for the hospital, because the unit feeds critical installations. The CHR will in future have a new and more reliable cold unit, consuming less energy and which will avoid the emission of 10 tonnes of CO2 per annum.
Sustainable partner in energy efficiency
Just like the majority of health care establishments, the Verviers CHR is faced with serious challenges in climatic and economic terms. On one hand, with its ageing infrastructures and its energy-intensive technical equipment, the health sector is a sector which consumes an enormous quantity of energy. On the other, it is confronted with an economic challenge: budgets are shrinking, whereas the requirements for patient convenience are ever more stringent. Faced with this dual challenge, EQUANS wants to help hospitals to improve their operational and energy efficiency. We make our expertise available in a wide variety of fields: improvement in the convenience of the facilities, buildings energy management, operational efficiency, local renewable energy production, installation of HVAC systems respectful of the environment. EQUANS teams operate in most of Belgium’s health care centres. Among recent completed projects, EQUANS has installed energy-saving and sustainable systems at Chirec, in Brussels and at the AZ Sint-Maarten at Mechelen and at the Namur CHR.
