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Tag Archives: DECC
London Combined Heat and Power output falls
October 2011: DECC have just released their annual regional breakdown of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) statistics, providing further detail to the CHP chapter of DECC’s annual Digest of UK Energy Statistics, published in July of this year.
The statistics for London released indicate that:
- 188 Good Quality CHP schemes were operational in London as at the end of 2010
- These schemes amount to a total electrical capacity of 185 MWe and total thermal capacity of 372MWth
- They produced a total of 631GWh electricity and 1,680GWh heat – a total of 2,311 GWh energy
- Unlike many other regions, London does not have many large-scale industrial CHP schemes, which have typically long operational hours. Hence the overall load factor of London CHP schemes is low – the second lowest in the UK – at only 39.8%
- Importantly, whilst there has been a marginal increase in the number of CHP schemes operating in London (3 more in 2010) overall CHP generation capacity in London has decreased from 200MWe in 2009 to 185MWe. This is in despite an increase in overall increase in UK CHP capacity by over 500MWe.
- Additionally, when compared to last year’s statistics, the output from CHP plant in the capital has also fallen. CHP data as at the end of 2009 shows that CHP output stood at 746 GWh electricity and 2,414 GWh heat – a total of 3,160GWh of energy (see last year’s DECC Energy Trends September 2010 for details). Hence, as compared to the statistics just released, CHP energy output has dropped a significant 27% in the capital over one year. It’s difficult to determine exactly what is happening here without access to more detailed data for London from DECC – especially in relation to those schemes which may have retired.
- Note: there is a minor error in the latest Energy Trends article. Tables 5 & 6 suggest that 200MW CHP is operating in 2010. However, the report’s authors have clarified to energy for london that the correct capacity is 185 MWe and that:
- in Table 5 of the article, CCGT+GTs+STs should be 80 MWe and NOT 95 MWe. This will make the total for London 185 MWe, and consistent with Tables 1+2
- in Table 6 the London figure under the ’10 MWe and greater’ column should be 66 MWe and NOT 81MWe. This again will make the total for London 185 MWe, and consistent with Tables 1+2
Posted in Data Store, Decentralised Energy, News
Tagged CHP, Data, DECC, Decentralised Energy
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New Renewable Electricity Stats for London
30 September 2011: DECC have just released their annual regional breakdown of renewable electricity statistics, providing further detail to the renewable CHP chapter of DECC’s annual Digest of UK Energy Statistics, published in July of this year. (Note – this only refers to ‘renewable electricity’ and not ‘renewable energy’ which would include the contribution of renewables to heating and transport fuels also – the UK’s 2020 target is in relation to renewable energy).
The statistics for London indicate:
- 10 sites in London are indicated under the ‘wind and wave’ category to a total of 3.7 MWe. Virtually all of this capacity must be wind, and the vast proportion of it attributable to a single scheme – the Ford Dagenham wind turbine project.
- 6 schemes are classed under ‘other biomass’ a total of 110.6 MWe (note – these statistics only refer to ‘renewable electricity’ and not ‘renewable energy’, hence it does not include biomass heat-only schemes in London or elsewhere). The majority of this capacity must be from biogas to electricity schemes at Thames Water sewage waste water treatment plants, and also a Thames Water ‘sludge powered’ generator, and a number of landfill gas schemes.
- And then there are 1,044 solar PV schemes operating in London – to a total of 2.8MWe generation capacity (on PV installations in London see here for further detail).
- London has the lowest total overall renewable electricity output of all regions at 385GWh – exactly the same amount generated as in 2009 (see DECC Energy Trends September 2010 for details)
- The Mayor will shortly be issuing a detailed study on the potential for decentrailsed energy in London, including the use of renewable energy resources.
Posted in Data Store, News, Renewable Energy
Tagged Data, DECC, Mayor, Renewable Energy
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Home Energy Pay As You Save Pilot Review
8 September 2011: The (Pay As You Save) PAYS Review is a summary of the key findings from five pilots – which includes a trial in Sutton – that trialled a range of financing repayment options to incentivise householders to install energy efficient and micro-generation measures in their homes. DECC report that the Energy Saving Trust (EST) PAYS Review “provides very useful insights into delivering financial packages to encourage energy-saving installations in homes. These insights include householder attitudes and preferences to the various delivery approaches adopted in the pilots. PAYS has demonstrated that innovative solutions can be developed to overcome the barriers associated with delivering energy saving measures into the UK housing stock. While these pilots did not test the Green Deal (to be launched in autumn 2012) – key features like repayment through energy bills and the ability to pass costs on when you move home will only be possible once legislation has passed – PAYS did test some consumer attitudes and types of delivery models. “
Low Carbon Social Enterprises
August 2011: DECC have just published a study undertaken through the Low Carbon Community Challenge (LCCC) communities programme which evaluates the support given to the 22 community schemes (including the Haringey and Muswell Hill Low Carbon Zone) on establishing social enterprise vehicles for their projects.‘ Download An independent evaluation report examining the Social Enterprise support and guidance needs of Low Carbon Community Challenge projects
Low Carbon Communities Challenge – interim learning
17 August 2011: DECC have just published a report setting out the interim learning from the Low Carbon Communities Challenge (LCCC), a two year programme involving 22 community energy projects, which includes the ‘Haringey and Muswell Hill Low Carbon Zone‘. The LCCC is looking to test different models of community-scale delivery, from projects which are led by community groups through to other projects which involve existing agencies and this report provides some of the learning to date in progressing the various schemes. The report details what worked and what didn’t work when progressing the various projects.
The number of fuel poor households in London
August 2011: A number of announcements have been made recently in relation to the increasing numbers of households suffering from fuel poverty. A summary of this information follows below, along with its relevancy to London.
The Government’s latest fuel poverty estimates for the UK (based on 2009 data) were published last month (DECC press release) and set out the significant increase in the number of households now classed as fuel poor as a result of increasing fuel prices. The Annual report on fuel poverty statistics 2011 stated that “In 2009, the number of fuel poor households in the UK was estimated at around 5.5 million, a rise of around 1 million when compared to 2008, and representing approximately 21 per cent of all UK households.”
Regional analysis of the data in the Annual report (in section 5.9) highlights that the percentage of households in London (under the Government’s definition) that are classed as fuel poor has risen from around 4% in 2004 to around 13% as at 2009 : this equates to around 430,000 households, based on London’s 3.3 million homes.
In response to the Government’s news release fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) produced a briefing with an estimate for London’s fuel poor based on this 2009 data as 417,000.
This is of course all based on 2009 data as mentioned before. Projections data on a sub-regional basis is not provided in the DECC reports however, in terms of understanding the potential current numbers of Londoners who may be classed as fuel poor, the following should be noted:
- The 2009 data estimates 5.5m UK households are in fuel poverty, of which 4m are in England. In terms of projections, the Annual Report (p75 and76) states that “fuel poverty is projected to remain at around 4.0 million households in England in 2010 and rise slightly to 4.1m in 2011, as the 2011 price changes begin to impact on households.”
- The fact that figures for 2009 and 2010 remain static may seem odd at first, but when looking at gas and electricity price changes over the past few years (DECC’s Quarterly Energy Prices June 2011 provides the latest data – Chart 2.1.2.) it can be seen that the most significant prices increases were between 2007 and 2009, hence that period would have seen the most dramatic increase in fuel poor households. In contrast the Quarterly Energy Statistics report that “Annual average domestic electricity prices, including VAT, fell by 5.2 per cent in real terms between 2009 and 2010. Domestic gas prices, including VAT, fell by 8.6 per cent in real terms during the same period.“
- However things have changed again. All six main energy suppliers increased tariffs earlier this year, and there are expectations of yet further price increases in the near future. Other contributing factors that need to be considered include the reduction in funding by Government to programmes such as Warm Front and Decent Homes.
- As a consequence of these various pressures, the Chairman of the Government’s Fuel Poverty Advisory Group (FPAG) was interviewed on Channel 4 last week and said that DECC’s projections were significant underestimates and that “ in relation to 2011 “We’re looking at 6.6m households in the UK in fuel poverty by the end of this year…”. Of these, FPAG estimate that England will have 5.1m fuel poor compared to the 4.1m estimate in the Annual report.
- On a simplistic linear relationship between the regional estimates for 2009 data (using the NEA number for London), this could mean that there could be 500,400 fuel poor in London by the end of the year.
- All of these numbers are based on the Government’s definition of fuel poverty which is defined as the number of households needing to spend more than 10% of their income on fuel to maintain reasonable warmth . However, London has long made the case that because of the disproportionately high costs of housing in the capital, this 10% proportion should be applied on income AFTER housing costs are taken into account (see GLA Fuel Poverty in London Report for further information). This, along with other factors considered in the GLA study, mean that under conventional estimates, the number of fuel poor households in London are currently grossly underestimated.
Additional information published alongside the Annual Report includes:
Fuel poverty 2009: detailed tables
Fuel poverty monitoring indicators 2011 – provides only scant detail in relation to any specific issues related to London.
Trends in fuel poverty England: 2003 to 2009 – London data in Table 37
Latest Findings from DECC’s Low Carbon Community Challenge
August 2011: DECC’s Low Carbon Community Challenge (LCCC) was officially launched in February 2010. Amongst the 22 successful applicants supported was one scheme in London – the Muswell Hill Low Carbon Zone, in Haringey, which involves the “installation of photovoltaics on four schools to be used as a learning tool and to encourage behaviour change; a mobile sustainable learning facility; cycle parking and a community renewable energy company that aims to gain funding to generate income for carbon reduction measures in the community.” Winnings projects were given funding of approximately £500,000 each, mainly to install low carbon technologies by March 2010 (phase 1 communities) and March 2011 (phase 2 communities) although the LCCC runs until March 2012.
DECC have today published three reports setting out some of the findings to date from the LCCC, and sharing thoughts from the various community groups on their experience taking forward such projects.
The Low Carbon Communities Challenge: Findings from the engagement support by Dialogue by Design
Analysis by Dialogue by Design of information collected from the community groups throughout the LCCC projects.
LCCC process evaluation: report 1 – application process
LCCC unsuccessful applicants’ feedback about the programme’s application process.
REAP Petite analysis of LCCC
Face-to-face interviews with 4,977 respondents across the Low Carbon Community Challenge (LCCC) areas were conducted in 2010 as part of the LCCC baseline research. This survey yielded considerable attitudinal data.
Energy Minister Visits Olympic Energy Centre
August 2011: Energy Minister Charles Hendry visited the Olympic Park and the park’s Energy Centre which provides power to the main venues in park. The Energy Centre uses both biomass and a natural gas powered Combined Cooling Heat & Power (CCHP) which is 30 percent more efficient than traditional power generation methods. The CCHP system is designed to allow for future increases in capacity – to a maximum load of 120 MW heating, 25 MW cooling and 17 MW of low carbon electricity – enough to power 100,000 homes.
Green light for new Essex power station
4 August 2011: Energy Minister Charles Hendry has given the go-ahead today for InterGen’s proposals to construct a new 900MW gas power plant at the London Gateway Logistics Park, Coryton, Essex. The plans are for a new £600 million power station comprising of up to two CCGT generating units, each around 450MW in capacity. Further information on the scheme is available on the Gateway Energy Centre website .
No mention is made in the Government’s press release about any requirements for the power station to operate in higher efficiency CHP-mode. As part of Intergen’s 2010 planning submission to the Government a CHP assessment was undertaken which stated that responses from nearby organisations to take heat from the power station “have been encouraging. For example, there is the potential to supply the London Gateway Development with heat in the form of hot water or steam for heating or refrigeration purposes. The project also has the potential to provide heat to organisations in the area such as the Petroplus owned Coryton Oil Refinery, the Ford Motor Company at Dunton and Basildon Hospital.”
The assessment continues that the “Gateway Energy Centre (GEC) will hold further discussions with local organisations, including government agencies, with the aim of establishing further interest e.g. in a community heating scheme. If achieved, the result of this would be to improve overall plant efficiency whilst also reducing energy consumption by the users of the heat. The design of GEC will incorporate features which, with suitable modifications, will allow for export of heat in the event that suitable users are identified.”
Energy Consumption in London’s Homes
29 July 2011: DECC’s latest Energy Consumption in the UK release includes data and factsheets on the use of energy in the industrial, transport, domestic and service sectors. Some of the findings from the domestic sector factsheet include:
- In 2010 domestic consumption was 32 per cent of total UK final energy consumption
- The majority of energy consumed in the domestic sector is for spacing heating which in 2009 represented 61 per cent of total domestic consumption.
- Water heating and lighting appliances accounted for a further 18 per cent each with cooking accounting for a further 3 per cent
- Electricity consumption for lighting purposes represented 33 per cent of electricity consumption by household domestic appliances, followed by cooking (32 per cent) and cold appliances (14 per cent)
No other official data providing a breakdown to this level of energy consumption in homes exists. No regional breakdown is provided or breakdown by dwelling type, hence this is the best available dataset to use in relation to energy consumption in Londoners’ homes. See the following Ofgem factsheet for information on typical total domestic energy consumption.
London Misses out on Renewable Heating Grants
21 July 2011: After mentioning yesterday that DECC had not as yet launched their renewable heat grants programme, this morning I see a press release announcing the start of the Renewable Heat Premium Payment’ scheme. However, DECC have now stated that the scheme will be mainly focused on households not heated by mains gas – so the opportunities for Londoners to benefit will be greatly reduced. In short the scheme will provide:
- £15 million in total to support up to 25,000 installations; and
- Householders will need to ensure they have basic energy efficiency measures in place before applying
From 1st August, grants for the following technologies will be available:
- Ground Source Heat Pump – £1250 grant (for homes without mains gas heating)
- Biomass boiler – £950 grant (for homes without mains gas heating)
- Air source heat pump – £850 grant (for homes without mains gas heating)
- Solar thermal hot water panels – £300 grant (available to all households regardless of the type of heating system used)
So Londoners who wish to take advantage of this scheme and install solar thermal panels (that is – if they’re not thinking of using their roofspace for PVs…) should go to the Energy Saving Trust’s website who will administer the scheme. Further information is also available on the RHPP DECC factsheet here.
BM Start Up…
July 2011: ….Clip size…Market coupling…and… Wind cannibalisation! You too can learn a whole new set of interesting jargon from the glossary to this week’s Electricity Market Review White Paper!