The history
About us
A revolutionary idea
At the heart of London, the
time when London smogs
Pimlico District Heating
were fatal
Undertaking (PDHU)
· Was the UK’s first combined
provides clean, safe and
heat and power operation
reliable energy to over 3,200 · Set new standards in
homes, 50 commercial
fuel efficiency, reducing
premises and three schools
overall coal consumption
via 5km of heating pipework. · Reduced hot water discharge
to the Thames which had
PDHU opened in 1950. It was
been rendered sterile by
revolutionary, successfully
high temperatures.
tackling environmental
PDHU is set to expand
concerns facing London
because it solves 21st
at the time by using waste
Century challenges.
heat which Battersea Power
Station discarded to the
Thames. As a result, PDHU:
· Became the UK’s first district
heating scheme, piping heat
across Pimlico
· Created the UK’s first
smokeless homes at a
How did it work back then?
So revolutionary was
PDHU’s design, it
acted as the first major
initiative ahead of the
Clean Air Act of 1956
to combat London’s
air pollution.
PDHU’s source of heat
originally came from steam
exhausting from turbines
used to generate electricity
at Battersea Power
Station. The waste steam
was passed through heat
exchangers to heat water.
This was then pumped
beneath the Thames in 12
inch diameter steel pipes
to the PDHU Pump House.
Battersea Power Station
operated 24 hours per day
but PDHU only operated
from 6am - 11pm.
The accumulator was built
to store the waste heat
produced during the night,
and enabled electricity to be
generated regardless of the
demand for heat. This store
holds 2,500,000 litres of
water and is still the largest
thermal store in the UK.
The Pimlico District Heating Undertaking originally
radiator heating
system (water
flow at 82°C)
Battersea Power
Station
electric
output
circulating
pumps
mixing
valve
cold water
supply at 12°C
turbo-alternators
steam
boiler
plant
heat exchangers
PDHU is owned by Westminster City Council and managed by CityWest Homes.
hot water system
with towel rails
tap water at 55°C
calorifier
water at 93°C
water at 70°C
sub-station
with accumulator
typical block
of flats
transmission mains
Map
1
G
2
Ground floor level
FIRE
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Tour route
Stairs to basement level
Stairs from basement level
FIRE
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Visit Us
History still in the making
See how this amazing heating scheme helps
the local community today
FIRE
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FINISH
START
BOILER
1
BOILER
2
ACCUMULATOR
BOILER
3
FIRE
EXIT
Basement floor level
1949
steel framework of
the accumulator tower
FIRE
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ACCUMULATOR
FIRE
EXIT
BOILER
1
FIRE
EXIT
BOILER
2
FIRE
EXIT
BOILER
3
CHP 1
FIRE
EXIT
B
ENGINEERS
FIRE
EXIT
OFFICE
1
2
FIRE
EXIT
CHP 2
Your local, sustainable energy source
www.cwh.org.uk
PDHU
Pimlico District Heating Undertaking
What happens today?
When Battersea Power Station closed in 1983, a temporary boiler
house on the Battersea site continued to supply heat to PDHU.
In 2006 PDHU underwent a major upgrade with the construction
of a new energy centre north of the Thames. It included two
combined heat and power (CHP) engines with an electrical
output of 3.2MW and three 8MW gas fired boilers. The energy
centre uses the CHP engines to supply the system base heat load
with any additional heat requirement supplied by the boilers.
Reinvesting all profits from electricity sales helps to reduce energy
The District Heating scheme today
bills for local residents.
The resident
been a Churchill Gardens
Mrs Cecilia Sargeant, aged 91 has
visit to PDHU, she said:
resident for 40 years. On her first
system PDHU provides
“I benefit directly from the heating
e to see how it works.
and it means a great deal to be abl
The District Heating scheme today
Accumulator
Boiler
Thermal
store
pump
radiators
CHP Engine
pump
pump
flow return
domestic
hot water
calorifiers
typical block of flats
The developer
Flat
Community heating increases
the appeal of our propertie
s
by providing inexpensive he
ating that reduces our carbo
n
footprint on the environmen
t.
Barratt Homes
Local, sustainable
energy
Cutting our
carbon footprint
The UK will depend on natural
gas as a source of energy for
many years to come. With such
a precious fuel from dwindling
reserves and insecure sources, it
is imperative that gas is burned
with maximum efficiency,
PDHU’s combined heat and
CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere
acts as a greenhouse gas which
plays a major role in global
warming and climate change.
PDHU’s generation of electricity
can save up to 11,000 tonnes
of carbon emissions per year by
power engines generate
electricity with an efficiency of
43% and heat with an efficiency
of 41%. Turning gas into useful
energy with an overall efficiency
of 84% is as good as it gets.
1950
For further information, contact:
CityWest Homes
21 Grosvenor Place, London, SW1X 7EA.
T 020 7245 2076 or
E [email protected]
displacing coal fired electricity
generation. This incredible saving
is the equivalent of taking off
the road just under 4,000 cars
per year. PDHU is just one of the
major green initiatives which
CityWest Homes manages.
Our aim is to make our estates
green and our homes sustainable.