Tag Archives: Biomass

Energy and Climate Questions to the Mayor

October 2016: This month Mayor’s Question Time included the following:

whether an annual planning and energy assessment report will be published; higher energy costs for Londoners due to the Hinkley go-aheadsolar action plan consultation; supporting community energy projects through the Zero Carbon Homes policy; Energy for Londoners budget; the number of zero carbon homes projected to be in place in 2025 in the London Energy Scenarios report; the Mayor’s support for the Energy Bill Revolution campaign; the use of biomass in large scale centralised coal generating plant which supply power to London; the proposed increase in business rates on solar PV installations; supporting the Zero Carbon Homes policy in future revisions to the London Plan; supporting boroughs in the implementation of the Zero Carbon Homes policy; the range of options open to developers to meet the Zero Carbon Homes target; how forthcoming revisions to the London Plan will support the Zero Carbon Homes policy; the Energy Gardens programme and LPG conversion of London cabs.

Previous months questions to the Mayor can be found here.

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Carbon Neutral Arcola

22 October 2015: “The Arcola Theatre in Dalston is a step closer to becoming the world’s first carbon-neutral theatre after it won funding for a new heating system”. Full story on Arcola’s plans to use a “biomass boiler, which generates heat from waste and scrap wood that would otherwise go to landfill”, following their recent funding award from Marks & Spencer’s Community Energy Fund, in the Hackney Citizen.

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Contribution of wood burning to PM10 in London

14 December 2014: Sunday Times article covering how ‘Wood-fired stoves fuel city pollution‘. The author points to evidence supporting the article’s findings in an academic paper (fully available) published earlier this year in the journal ‘Atmospheric Environment‘ ‘Contribution of wood burning to PM10 in London‘:

“Air pollution from domestic wood burning has long been recognised as an important contributor to poor ambient air quality in Scandinavian and alpine regions of Europe where wood burning is routinely used for residential space heating. However, recent evidence is suggesting that biomass burning might be more widespread…The current study sought to determine the existing contribution of wood burning to PM10 in London so that the impacts of increased biomass burning can be quantified in the future.

 

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Southwark Heat Network Update

July 2013: Deborah Collins, Strategic Director of Environment and Leisure of Southwark Council provided a useful update of the Southwark Heat Network project at the recent BASELondon show.

1,200 Southwark properties will benefit from the district heating network, which will be fed from currently wasted heat from the SELCHP waste to energy plant, based in neighbouring Lewisham. Work has been ongoing on installing the heat mains for the scheme and it is anticipated that this month will see the completion of all remaining pipes being installed and final boiler room modifications. Testing and calibration of the scheme will run over August and September with October being the target month for heat delivery to residents.

Further information can be viewed on the following presentation.

Southwark will also see further decentralised energy systems in the borough, with CHP and PV systems being installed on the new Elephant and Castle leisure centre and also biomass and PV used in Camberwell at the new Sacred Heart school development.

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Heads of Terms Signed for Funding Enfield Biomass Project

June 2013: News reports provide an update on progress being made by developer Kedco of their 12MW biomass heat and power plant planned in Enfield. The article states that “Kedco plc, the renewable energy developer and operator focusing on the production of clean energy in the UK and Ireland, is pleased to announce the appointment of the Foresight Group (“Foresight”) as the preferred funding partner in relation to its 12 MW Enfield Biomass CHP project located in North London. Kedco has signed a non-binding heads of terms with Foresight for the provision of debt and equity facilities which will part finance the construction and operation of the Project.” See previous posts here for detail on the scheme.

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Lewisham Renaissance and Decentralised Energy

23 April 2013: The BBC’s Radio 4 World Tonight programme included an interesting 10 minute piece last night on sustainable cities with contributions from Peter Madden, CEO of Forum for the Future, and architecture critic Jonathan Glancey. Included in the discussion was mention of the Renaissance project, part of the Lewisham Gateway development. [The piece can be heard herescroll to 20mins into the programme]

Lewisham Council’s website sets out that this major development project in the borough, recently dubbed as the Renaissance [but locally known as Loampit Vale  – opposite Lewisham station] incorporates an energy centre which contains:

“a gas powered engine  CHP (‘Combined Heat and Power’) which generates both electricity and heat, as well as a biomass boiler and gas boilers. Heat energy for residents’ heating and hot water requirements is generated within the energy centre and then distributed via an energy network to a Heat Interface Unit situated within each property, negating the need for conventional gas boilers.”

Unusually for such developments, the Renaissance scheme  will not only supply heating to the whole of the  Renaissance (including the leisure centre and also the London City Mission) but the “the energy centre will also supply electricity to the homes in the block above, as well as to the leisure centre. Excess electricity generated within the energy centre is exported to the National Grid, and the revenue generated offsets the cost of producing heat.” This is a really interesting  move – that is the sale of the electricity to onsite customers – by the developer Barratts, and needs to be studied to see how things progress. Much more on efforts being undertaken to help secure the sustainable energy credentials of this project here – and also some further detail in an early Mayoral planning report on the project [see para 99 onwards].

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Enfield Biomass CHP Update

19 March 2013: Updates from developer Kedco of the biomass combined heat and power (CHP) plant being developed in Enfield (see previous post here for a lot more detail on the scheme).

The Telegraph reports that “The project, which has full planning and environmental permission for the conversion of 60,000 tonnes of waste timber per annum into up to 12MW of electricity and heat, remains on track to reach financial close and start construction in the third quarter of 2013. Chief executive Gerry Madden said: “The company has a clear plan in place for the Enfield Biomass CHP project with the key objective being to reach financial close by Q3 2013.

“Given the flagship nature of the project, which is located in the London area within the M25, the company is pleased to have received numerous enquiries from various parties interested in participating in the project, and we look forward to finalising this shortly.”

Kedco’s website additionally states that: “The company has had discussions with a number of potential large blue chip offtakers for both the electricity and heat which will be generated by the project.”

Further information on a press report here.

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Kings Cross Energy Centre Open Day

31 October 2012: Operators of the Kings Cross Energy Centre, Vital Energi, have announced that they will hold an Open Day and tour of the Centre on November the 22nd. Full details of how to register here. The Energy Centre lies at the heart of  Europe’s largest city centre regeneration scheme with the £2 billion, 67-acre scheme even having its own postcode – N1C. Three gas-fired  CHP engines will provide 7MW of electricity and will supply the bulk of the heat demand onsite – along with a supplementary biomass boiler and thermal heat store (the latter being a big hot water tank!)

For further information see Kings Cross Central’s Energy Centre Explained page and an earlier post which highlights that the “CHP engine will not only generate electricity, which will be fed into the grid network, but will also provide heat for the development wide District Heating System (DHS). All of the 70 buildings at King’s Cross, from the University of Arts to the Camden Council building, BNP Paribas Real Estate’s new offices and the Great Northern Hotel, will be connected to the DHS.”

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Sky Studios wind turbine spins into action

29 May 2012:  Sky have announced that they have installed a wind turbine  at its West London campus. “The 55-metre Northwind 100 turbine is expected to provide over 133 MWh/year of clean energy to Sky Studios – enough to meet its annual office lighting requirements. The new wind turbine will operate in conjunction with Sky’s recently-commissioned [biomass] Combined Cooling, Heating and Power (CCHP) plant.” Read the full news release here.

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London’s Renewable Energy – Annual Monitoring

March 2012: The Mayor has just published the latest London Plan Annual Monitoring Report (AMR), which monitors a number of key performance indicators (KPIs) set in London’s spatial strategy, the London Plan. This is the first AMR to be published since the new London Plan was published in July 2011.

Two KPIs are of particular interest are:
KPI 20 Reduce carbon dioxide emissions through new development
KPI 21 Increase in energy generated from renewable sources

In terms of KPI 21, London has recently set a revised target for renewable energy which is for 8,550 GWh of energy from renewable sources by 2026 (London’s current total non-transport energy use is approximately 115,000 GWh – see London’s 2011 energy strategy for further information). The target was an output of a significant  piece of analysis undertaken in 2011, and published earlier this year – the London Decentralised Energy Capacity Study. The AMR reproduces a table from that study setting out an estimate of renewable energy capacity and output in London in 2010:

The total output for 2010 of 858 GWh highlights that London has considerable way to go – a ten-fold increase – to achieve the 2026 target. DECC also produce regional renewable energy statistics – but only report on renewable electricity output (which is hard to compare to that reported above, as the largest GWh component in the table – for biomass  – has added the heat and power output components together).
Additional monitoring of the London Plan’s carbon and energy policies are reported here.

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Funding for London biomass schemes

January 2012: DECC’s Bio-energy Capital Grants Scheme supported “biomass-fuelled heat, and combined heat and power projects in the industrial, commercial and community sectors in England.” A spreadsheet has just been released providing details of projects supported by rounds 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the scheme.  Projects are not listed with any specific geographic information however from a quick review it appears that only 4 of the 215 schemes supported appear to be in London, which are:

  • Hale Village in Tottenham (entry 161 on the spreadsheet)
  • A school in Sutton (entry 178)
  • An unspecified London fire station (entry 180)
  • East Barnet School (entry 197)
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Tottenham Biomass District Heating scheme

25 January 2012: An update has been provided on – as this news release says – is the UK’s first biomass district heating scheme. Hale Village in Tottenham, London, comprises 2220 homes, which  will receive heat and hot water via a biomass boiler district heating network using wood pellets. Read more here.

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