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Airbus, Broughton
an innovative site-specific CHP solution
When Ray Roberts was appointed Head of Facilities and Services at Airbus’s huge complex at Broughton in Cheshire in 2000, he was just months away from taking on the biggest challenge of his 20 year career with the global aircraft manufacturer.
By 2001, with advance orders for the new flagship A380 super jumbo jet running comfortably into three figures, it was clear that a major expansion in manufacturing capacity was essential if Broughton was to meet its ultimate target of delivering four wing sets a month for assembly at the company’s headquarters in Toulouse.
With three new buildings totalling around 120,000 sq m of floor space required on an aggressive timetable, a fundamental consideration for Airbus - and Ray in particular - was power, with an extra 7MVA of electricity required to operate the new buildings and processes.
It quickly became clear that here was a major opportunity for Airbus to take a strategic approach to meeting all of its diverse energy requirements for the future, using the expansion of A380 production to address a range of other pressing issues.
It was also clear to Ray that it was time to think beyond the traditional solution of simply buying in more electricity from the National Grid for conversion in a new main boiler plant into the diverse range of on site energy required.
Initial enquiries with the local distributor Scottish Power had indicated that significant up front investment in infrastructure out of Airbus’s control would be required, with no guarantee that expensive power interruptions, a regular occurrence in recent years, would be a thing of the past. Also, there were concerns about Scottish Power’s ability to offer the pace and flexibility essential for the success of the A380 expansion plan.
Other business drivers included a desire for Airbus to become a leader in sustainable, efficient energy management, befitting its global status and local responsibilities. A more efficient, tailor-made solution for Broughton’s new requirements would also significantly reduce the company’s Climate Change levy obligations, which were running at about £600,000 per year.
Further possibilities included an opportunity to greatly reduce up front capital investment costs by sharing risks with a development partner and acquiring more autonomy and control over the quality and consistency of supply.
Critically, the expansion of Broughton, which will increase manufacturing capacity by about 60% by the end of 2004, would be a complex logistical challenge in which all contractors and suppliers would need to work co-operatively and flexibly together.
As Ray Roberts recalls, “This was a step change in the size and scale of aircraft production. The wing sets would be the largest aircraft components ever produced, requiring the largest autoclave in the world using 2.3MVA at its peak. Clearly we were in new territory and we needed to think afresh about how to meet our energy needs”.
Against this background Ray visited a combined heat and power (CHP) system operated by Woking Borough Council and was struck by its potential application for Broughton. Recalls Ray, “I knew that this could work perfectly for us at Broughton”.
CHP is a highly efficient and environmentally friendly system especially for specific applications in which a variety of energy is required for 24-hour production processes and working environments. Emissions are reduced and more energy is generated per emission. Heat is the primary output of the process with electricity a by-product.
The CHP approach, to be delivered by their selected partner McAlpine Business Services, allowed Airbus to model its energy requirements in detail, to identify base and peak loadings and to build in its seasonal variations.
Crucially, with McAlpine owning and operating the system and supplying energy on a power by the hour system, Airbus avoided conventional capital expenditure and ongoing maintenance costs, critical at a time of huge and expensive investment elsewhere in the business. They also gained guaranteed performance and a valued and respected business partner to share risks and plan for the future over the long term.
Selecting CHP was a big decision for Airbus, which had recently taken a number of major investment decisions at Broughton and could be forgiven for taking the traditional option. But Ray Roberts was convinced of the business case for CHP and the strength of his proposal, bolstered by his own highly experienced financial background, drew strong support from the Airbus board.
Ray identifies a range of key business benefits that made the decision possible.
“There were hard-headed financial reasons for making the switch, such as the avoidance of up front capital costs, the overall reduction in energy consumption, the reduction in maintenance charges and the elimination of the Climate Change levy.
“Then there were benefits for the working environment and our processes such as a greater control and consistency of temperature for both operators and product quality.
“And we can look forward to tangible improvements in the sustainability of our operations and our overall reputation. CHP is comparatively very efficient, will reduce the level of our CO2 emissions by more than 2,600 tonnes and helps position Airbus as a leading environmental performer in the UK.”
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For Broughton, the most effective CHP ratio is two units of thermal energy to one unit of electrical energy, with only 5% of energy going to waste. This compares to more than 50% energy wastage using traditional systems and equipment. Three potential partners were interviewed of which the combination of Stiell Facilities and Brotherhood Aircogen, now part of McAlpine Business Services, were successful. McAlpine’s detailed proposals for Broughton brought to reality the potential CHP had offered. Critically, McAlpine’s would retain ownership of the CHP infrastructure, with Airbus simply paying for the energy they used. “This made perfect sense for us”, recalls Ray Roberts, Head of Facilities and Services at Airbus, Broughton. “Airbus is not a power company and we have no ambitions to be one. We simply wish to work closely with a partner and pay for good products and services. This solution allows us to plan for growth with confidence. As we need more energy, we simply ask McAlpine to supply another CHP unit”. As work progressed building the huge new manufacturing facilities, each containerised CHP unit, built and commissioned in factory conditions with gas burning engines, would be delivered by truck and installed at the point of need. The size of plant would be optimised on thermal loads with energy transformation minimised. |
All photographs courtesy of Airbus
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