London Olympics to go decentralised

The Olympic Energy Centre

The Olympic Delivery Authority has long said it wants the London Olympic games in 2012 "to be the first sustainable Games".

Well, today it's unveiled a design for its energy centre - complete with a combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP) plant fuelled by sustainable biomass (woodchip) and natural gas.

Great stuff - and another reminder to the dinosaurs in Whitehall that pioneering people on the ground have overtaken central government when it comes to embracing the kinds of clean and efficient energy schemes we so desperately need.

According to the press release:

The site-wide heat network will be used to generate domestic hot water and to heat the Aquatics Centre swimming pools and other venues and buildings.

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Construction work on the new Energy Centre building will begin in the summer to coincide with the start of work on the main venues in the Olympic Park, allowing the utilities connections to be fitted into the building foundations at the start of construction. The Energy Centre design is sustainable and flexible to allow future technologies to be used within the centre as they are developed in years to come.

The Energy Centre will be joined by a primary electrical substation in the west of the Olympic Park to form the heart of the new utilities networks that are being built across the area.