Tag Archives: CHP

“The power revolution could soon be moving from dream to reality”

10 August 2016: Welcome to see the Evening Standard today include a major comment piece by Leo Johnson on how “Small-scale projects such as those in Newham, Brixton and Islington give a glimpse of Britain’s energy future”.

Leo highlights three projects in London as signs of how the decentralised energy model is now in the ascendancy, shifting from the “dominant energy model, the centralised production and distribution of fossil fuel-based power through the grid”.

  • “In Newham, for example, the Combined Heat and intelligent Power plant (CHiP) aims to harness the energy from “fatbergs”, the bus-size balls of grease which cost Thames Water an estimated £1 million a month to remove, using teams of trained “flushers” decked out with protective white suits and shovels who descend into London’s Victorian sewer system to hack up the fat. CHiP plans to use the fat instead to power 40,000 homes.” This project is fascinating and received a lot of coverage when first announced back in 2013 – which was covered in some detail in an earlier post here – but not much further information has been forthcoming from the project on their website.
  • “In Brixton, the energy group Repowering is installing solar panels on the rooftops of housing association buildings to lower fuel bills, and is teaming up with Transport for London to introduce “energy gardens” across 50 London Overground sites.” In June of this yearRepowering was awarded a prestigious Ashden Award for their work – a case study and excellent video are posted on the Ashden website here. The Energy Gardens project was covered by ITV news a few weeks ago – see video here – and more can be seen at energygarden.org.uk
  • “At the Bunhill Energy Centre project in Islington, whose second phase was opened by Mayor Sadiq Khan last month, they’re using heat from the Northern line tube to power a thousand homes.” Lots more about Bunhill here.

Leo also highlights some work commissioned by the GLA by  engineers Buro Happold “have estimated that there is enough heat wasted in London alone to power 70 per cent of the city’s energy needs. What’s the potential for growth? Copenhagen provides 98 per cent of its space and water heating through district heating, at 45 per cent of the cost of normal oil heating bills. London’s uptake, better than the one to two per cent national average, is currently just five per cent.”  The 2013 London Secondary Heat study can be downloaded here.

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New GLA Decentralised Energy Framework Notice

July 2016: The GLA have issued a tender to secure a range of services related to supporting the growth of decentralised energy projects in the capital:

The tender (GLA80814 – Decentralised Energy Framework) (direct download) sets out that the GLA seeks consultants with experience in:

  • developing business cases and business plans for DE projects
  • structuring templates for project delivery
  • providing commercial advise to private and public sector clients in negotiating key agreements
  • assessing different delivery vehicles and ownership structures, such as Public Private Partnership (PPP) options — Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and Joint Venture (JV) structures
  • producing early project commercial documentation (including risk registers) and agreements
  • working with financial advisors in providing guidance on possible funding sources, including maintaining relationships with banks and investment boutiques
  • in-depth knowledge of energy markets, energy trading and negotiations.

Much of the work undertaken in this area to date, carried out by the GLA through the Decentralised Energy Project Delivery Unit (DEPDU) –  which officially closed in July 2015 –  is posted online at www.londonheatmap.org.uk.

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Smart Cities and the Built Environment

14 July 2016: Osborne Clark – the “smart cities law firm” – released a report last week examining how “how smart built environments leverage data, new technology and innovative and collaborative thinking to deliver services that benefit citizens”.

The report Smart cities in Europe: The future of the built environment includes a profile of the regeneration of Kings Cross: “Why is this redevelopment a good example of a smart built environment? For a start, the building utilises renewable energy. Solar
panels that generate around 10% of the
station’s energy requirements were installed
on the 2,500m² renovated train shed roof. A
combined heat and power (CHP) plant will
also provide locally generated power to new
businesses and homes on the site.”

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Air Quality implications of the London Energy Plan

April 2016: Think tank Policy Exchange has produced two reports over the past few months on London’s air quality crises (Up In the Air: How to solve London’s air quality crisis – Part 1 and Part 2). Though the bulk of the two studies are concerned with pollutants from the transport sector, the issue of emissions from London’s growing decentralised energy generation capacity also come under consideration.

Part 1 suggests that London’s support of decentralised energy systems, based around the GLA’s focus on the growth of gas fired Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant, may exacerbate London’s air quality problems:

  • The models also do not fully reflect the ongoing growth in decentralised power generation across London, including Combined Heat and Power (CHP). Decentralised energy is being promoted both by national government and the GLA, and there is now 195MW of CHP capacity across London (ranging from small units in homes to large units in industrial premises). Projections show that gas combustion in buildings could be responsible for 48% of NOx emissions by 2025 in Central London.14 There is a risk that measures to promote decentralised energy could increase local NOx emissions. [p7]

Part 2 goes on to recommend the following:

  • We have also identified a risk associated with the growth of “decentralised energy” in London. Decentralised energy is being promoted by the GLA and DECC as a means to reduce carbon emissions and ensure security of supply. However, certain forms of decentralised energy produce significant NOx emissions, for example small scale gas and diesel engines, biomass boilers and CHP (Combined Heat and Power) installations. We recommend that the next Mayor of London reconsiders London’s Climate Change and Energy Strategy to reconcile the potential conflict between decentralised energy and air pollution. We also recommend changes to national energy policies led by DECC in order to resolve potential conflicts with local air pollution. [p8]

The issue of CHP and air quality has been looked at before, highlighted by campaigning group Clean Air London, and through guidance issued by the City of London and Environmental Protection UK

Hence, it is interesting to note that the GLA have recently approved “expenditure of up to £30,000 to procure and appoint consultancy services   to model the air quality implications of the first four [London Energy Plan]  energy plan scenarios... This study will deliver:
•    A report detailing findings and recommendations
•    Spatial maps showing the concentration of air pollutants estimated from the emissions rates of the heating technologies considered in the LEP.
•    The dispersion of the air pollutants concentrations within the local area from the sources for four scenarios considered within the LEP.”

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Nine Elms District Heating Progress

February 2016:  “SSE Enterprise Utilities has delivered a low carbon multi-utility solution for a new residential and commercial development on the banks of the Thames.
Hundreds of properties at the Riverlight development will be served by an energy centre housing a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) unit, gas fired boilers and ground source heat pumps. Installation and ownership of the water, gas and electricity networks on site means that SSE Enterprise Utilities is providing a true multi-utility service.” Read full SSE news release here. A case study on the project is available here and video here.

Also just released is news from  district heating provider Vital Energi that they won a contract at Nine Elms Point, which will see them install a CHP energy centre, connecting a  further 645 homes to a heat network at this major regeneration site. Nine Elms Point is being delivered in partnership with Sainsbury and Barratt London and Vital have won the contract to perform the installation of the main Energy Centre, Chiller Plant Room and Heat Substations, in addition to all the works to residential and commercial properties, including Hydraulic Interface Units, Cooling Interface Units and Heat Meters in a contract worth £8 million.”

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London Riverside decentralised energy plans develop

26 October 2015: Plans for the development of the London Riverside Opportunity Area have been progressing for some years now (see post here). Following a consultation earlier this year, final plans were adopted by the Mayor of London on 23 September 2015 as Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) to the London Plan and published online and launched at a public event at the NLA on 22 October 2015.

London Riverside is one for 4 Opportunity Areas (OA) covering a wide scale development in the East of London comprising London Bridge, Canada Water, Deptford Creek/Greenwich Riverside, Isle of Dogs, Lower Lee Valley, Upper Lee Valley, Ilford, Greenwich Peninsula, Charlton Riverside, Woolwich, London Riverside, Bexley Riverside and Abbey Wood and Thamesmead. The planning frameworks across they areas are at at different stages of development: further information on them can be found here.

The London Riverside OA covers some 2,500 hectares encompassing parts of Barking and Dagenham and Havering, adjoining the borough boundary with Newham in the west, and forms part of the Thames Gateway growth area.

The planning framework has always discussed proposals for an area wide district heating initiative and the revised set of Opportunity Area Planning Framework (OAPF) documents includes a ‘Decentralised Energy‘ chapter which identifies “opportunities for decentralised energy production and the development of a satellite district-heating networks across the OA that interconnect over time to supply locally produced low to zero carbon energy“.

The chapter also captures the significant amount of work going on in relation to decentralised energy across the region: “Havering Council, with the support of the DECC and the GLA has produced an Energy Masterplan focussing on a Rainham and Beam Park district heat network delivering low carbon heat. It also sets out therole of satellite district-heat networks across theopportunity area that could interconnect over timeto supply locally produced low to zero carbon andwaste energy sources. The Rainham and Beam Park Energy Masterplan should be taken into consideration alongside this framework.”

There are number of planned and existing decentralised energy schemes within the London Riverside area (as shown in graphic above) which the planning document considers as part of the area’s energy strategy, .

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Harrow Energy Masterplan to be developed

March 2015: Not much information here – but a tender from Harrow Borough Council looking for a consultant to help develop an energy masterplan for the Heart of Harrow regeneration area.

An earlier consultation document issued by the council sets out that “Within the Heart of Harrow, a district-wide combined heat and power network is promoted. There are already specific proposals to deliver district energy on a number of our major sites, but no masterplanning has yet been undertaken to establish the feasibility of a wider network. Neither has additional feasibility work been undertaken to develop business cases for individual schemes.Our strategy is to pursue district energy opportunities within the Heart of Harrow area, both on our own redevelopment sites and on other major development schemes. We will be preparing an energy master plan and, where appropriate,additional feasibility studies to map the potential district energy programme for the Heart of Harrow in more detail” – which must be what the consultant for this work must be undertaking.

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North London Heat and Power Project

December 2014: North London Waste Authority (NLWA) has launched its first phase of public consultation on the North London Heat and Power Project – a £450-500 million Energy Recovery Facility at the Edmonton EcoPark in the London Borough of Enfield. All details are set out on their new website: www.northlondonheatandpower.london.

The development proposal consists of:

  • an energy from waste plant – described here as an Energy Recovery Facility (ERF)-  generating 70MW of electricity using residual waste
  • “heat off-take” equipment within the ERF which will generate an initial heat supply through a connection to a separate heat network centre that will be located on the site.
  • This separate heat network centre is not part of the Project and will be developed by the London Borough of Enfield. The separate heat network will be designed to be capable of providing heat in the region of 30 MW which will provide benefit to north and east London;

North London Waste Authority (NLWA) arranges the disposal of waste collected by the seven London boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest. The existing Energy from Waste plant at the EcoPark that has served north London for around 45 years and is coming to the end of its operational life.

A video on the current energy system in place can be seen here; a second video on new proposals can be seen here.

Plans for the heat offtake extend to connecting to the wider Lee Valley Heat Network – details for which were announced earlier this year and to which government funding was announced in October. The first phase of the Lee Valley Heat Network will focus on the £1.5 billion Meridian Water development.

The following three tenders for the Heat Network have been issued by Enfield in the past few weeks:

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Victoria Decentralised Energy Project

November 2014: A major decentralised energy project in Victoria has moved a step further with the appointment of Clarke Energy to deliver a 3MWe Combined Heat and Power (CHP) engine. A  news release from Clarke Energy sets out that the mixed use Nova Victoria project, comprising residential, offices and commercial sites, will be connected to a district heating scheme where:

  • GE’s Jenbacher units will run a combined heat and power (CHP) configuration to generate 2.96 megawatts (MW) for the area enough electricity to power more than 5,700 standard U.K. homes.
  • Once operational in 2016, the CHP configuration will power the on-site Energy Centre, export electricity to the grid and provide heat to Nova residents and businesses as well as reduce carbon emissions.
  • Based on 8,000 operating hours per year, the gas CHP is expected to offset more than 6,500 tons of carbon dioxide.

The Mayor’s planning decision from 2012 provides some additional background to the energy strategy of the development. Energy strategies submitted as part of the planning application for the development can be downloaded here and here.

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Overview of CHP data

July 2014: CHP schemes – depending on size and fuel type – can benefit from a variety of government support mechanisms. These mostly take the form of partial exemptions from the Climate Change Levy, the  Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), Carbon Floor Price, EU Emissions Trading Scheme, and business rates. Interaction with these mechanisms can be pretty complex at times  (an  overview of these are provided in the following presentations from an industry workshop last December) but critical to attaining these benefits is for the CHP scheme to achieve a ‘Good Quality’ status under the government’s CHPQA programme.

The CHPQA Standard highlights that the QA system has been place since around April 2001 providing  “a methodology for assessing the quality of CHP Schemes in terms of their energy efficiency and environmental performance. This methodology is based on Threshold Criteria, which must be met or exceeded in order for the whole of the Scheme to qualify as ‘Good Quality’.” The QA programme also requires an annual submission from each CHP plant wishing to be classed as ‘Good Quality’ – and details on how to comply with this QA standard are set out in some comprehensive guidance notes posted on DECC’s CHPQA microsite here.

The CHPQA admits that “achieving CHPQA Certification may at first glance appear daunting” but fortunately, for the majority of schemes going forward in London (ie smaller scale), can access a more streamlined QA process which is available for <2MWe CHP plant (see guidance note 13). Overall, CHP schemes can be seen to go through some of the most rigorous monitoring requirements of all sustainable energy measures to receive government support.

CHP schemes in London that have achieved the CHPQA standard – and which have given consent for their details to be released – are listed on DECC’s Public CHP database here (set ‘region’ criteria to London). Aggregate CHP statistics are published in DECC’s Digest of UK Energy Statistics and regional (including London) data in the September issue of DECC’s Energy Trends journal. Further data can also be accessed on Ofgem’s CCL CHP register here. Additional detail on CHP and district heating schemes can be found on the London Heat Map.

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Bunhill CHP

June 2014: Great video on Islington’s ground breaking Bunhill CHP and district heating project. View here – and further details of the scheme here.

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Decentralised Energy Delivery: the Business Case

April 2014: On Wednesday 2nd April 2014 the Greater London Authority hosted a workshop focussing on the Business Case and Business Planning for Decentralised Energy projects. The event included an introduction from Matthew Pencharz – Senior Advisor, Environment and Energy (GLA), case studies and an open discussion amongst all attendees. The workshop hosted speakers from the London Borough of Enfield, Westminster City Council, Arup and the GLA. Attendees included energy consultants, engineers and local authorities.

Materials presented by the speakers can be downloaded using the following links:
Peter North, Greater London Authority
Robert Tudway Greater London Authority
Bruce Laidlaw, Arup
Jeff Laidler, London Borough of Enfield
Tim Starley-Grainger, Westminster City Council
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