Tag Archives: Wandsworth

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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Food poverty and fuel poverty go hand in hand

26 February 2016: Sarah Chapman  a volunteer and trustee at Wandsworth foodbank writes in the New Statesman on Fuel Poverty Awareness Day that “It’s no surprise that food poverty and fuel poverty are close friends; two spokes in the wheel of wider deprivation, or adjacent seats on the rollercoaster that’s life on a low/no income. We see this every day at our foodbank centres across Wandsworth. If you haven’t got money for food, you’re unlikely to have enough to “burn on gas”, as one guest, a security guard, told me.” Read the full article here. Full information on Fuel Poverty Awareness Day is available on National Energy Action’s website.

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London Innovates…back in the 1930s

August 2014: Interesting foreword by Department of Energy and Climate Change Secretary of State Ed Davey – also MP for Kingston – to a new DECC document ‘Next Steps on CCS‘ which provides some background to Battersea Power Station:

“In the 1930s, in the midst of London’s pea-soup fog, Battersea Power Station was the first power station in the world to deploy an innovative technology known as “Flue Gas Desulphurisation” (FGD) to clean up sulphur dioxide in its toxic fumes – a key cause of London’s air pollution.

“The cost of that technology was significant and in the 1930s there were no financial or regulatory incentives to deploy FGD. Battersea was ahead of its time – for a variety of reasons, it took another 70 years before the technology was fully commercialised. But FGD is now installed in over 1700 power stations across the world and the energy industry expects to invest around $8bn in the technology in 2015 alone.

“Today the problem is not sulphur dioxide, but carbon dioxide. And to solve this problem we need more clean energy from renewable and nuclear sources, alongside cleaner energy from gas. But we also need a new generation of coal and gas power stations equipped with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) for the 21st century.”

The Minister’s information is referenced to a case study by the UKERC which goes into a lot more detail – and highlights the role that councils played in bringing forward new energy technology!

Continue reading…

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The Future of Battersea’s disused gas holders

December 2013: National Grid news release announcing that “Work to dismantle the gas holders at National Grid’s site in Battersea got under way recently and the local community are being invited to find out how this and future work will play a part in the exciting redevelopment plans for the area.

“The site was once used to produce town gas which was made from coal. However after the discovery of natural gas under the North Sea town gas became obsolete and the gasworks closed. The gasholders however continued to be used for gas storage but now improvements to the gas network and storage methods mean that they are no longer needed. Their removal will help transform the area enabling the site to be redeveloped and much needed housing to be built.”

Some fascinating historical background to the site can be found at www.BatterseaGasholders.com. And here’s a great drawing of one of the Battersea gasometers – part of a series of drawings of London gasometers – by artist Daniel Preece.

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New VNEB District Heating Feasibility Study released

September 2013: Building on the November 2012 Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea (VNEB) Energy Masterplan (7.8MB) (also see a previous post here on the earlier Opportunity Area Planning Framework for VNEB), a more detailed  District Heating Feasibility Study has now been prepared for Wandsworth borough council and has been published online on the London Heat Map website.

The Nov 2012 study set out that the “Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Opportunity Area (VNEB OA) includes some of the highest density, large-scale development anywhere in London. As such, it offers huge potential for the development of a coherent, low carbon energy supply system.”

Key recommendations at the time included:

  • To implement kick-start networks based around early loads in three locations, with routes identified as i. Lambeth ii. Central iii Battersea
  • To continue dialogue with the new US Embassy development to show that a district energy network could be developed with benefits for the area and the Embassy.
  • To open discussions to reinstate the hydraulic link to the Pimlico District Heating Undertaking Energy Centre – this is referring to a tunnel under the Thames which originally supplied waste heat from Battersea Power Station to the Pimlico District Heating system on the north side of the river (see more on this here and here).

Building on this the new 2013 District Heating Feasibility Study seeks to demonstrate the “commercial case both for individual developers and a centralised operator of a district heating network” examining opportunities for two potential heat network options “the developers’ non-networked approach (as expressed in individual site energy strategy documents)… Heat prices are then set to offer a fixed level of whole life cost benefit to developers connecting to the system. Second, the economic performance of heat delivery for the central scheme operator is demonstrated based on the heat prices identified from the developer perspective.”

Phasing of the build-out of the networks is considered alongwith an investment analysis of the different network options.  Key to the recommendations sets out on page of the report is identifying a “project champion’ within the delivery vehicle to provide impetus and encouragement to the private sector to participate in the scheme”.

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Deputy Mayor tours National Grid’s new “electricity superhighway”

July 2013: Deputy London Mayor Sir Edward Lister visited National Grid’s London Power Tunnels construction site in Wandsworth. The project will create a 32km “electricity superhighway deep below the capital”. Read full news release here.  More on the London Power Tunnels project here.

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The London Power Tunnels project

March 2013: Previous posts have highlighted the significant National Grid London Power Tunnels project currently underway and so interesting to get an update via the following industry news story: “Costain completes tunnel work London Power Tunnels project” which reports:

“Costain said that the dual mode TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine), named Evelyn, broke through a pre-prepared shaft at St John’s Wood in London, following a year-long 7.26km drive from Willesden. The drive is part the National Grid’s plan to rewire London via a 32km network of underground tunnels, in order to meet increasing electricity demand, and help the capital access the renewable energy of the future.” (also see Costain news release)

The tunnels are planned to be very different from those previously constructed – much more accessible in relation to helping fix faults and large enough to walk through.

From London Tunnels brochure.

Some further info from the project’s website www.londonpowertunnels.co.uk states:

“The next phase of tunnelling operations will see Evelyn journey towards Wimbledon, from Wandsworth. A second TBM, Cleopatra, is carving out the other 13km of the route and is due to arrive at St John’s Wood later this year.”

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Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Energy Strategy

April 2012: A planning framework for the Vauxhall / Nine Elms / Battersea Opportunity Area has  been finalised and is being adopted as  Supplementary Planning Guidance to the London Plan. The OAPF  has been produced by the GLA in collaboration with Lambeth and Wandsworth councils, as well as TfL and English Heritage and followed a public consultation process that took place in the winter of 2009/10.
The framework sets out an ambition for around 16,000 new homes and a range of 20,000 – 25,0000 jobs and includes the creation of a Combined Cooling and Heat Power network. The technical appendices to the planning framework includes a Energy Strategy Masterplan (TA5) which states that “this report finds that the density and diversity of development in the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea (VNEB) Opportunity Area (OA) supports a strong case for the development of a low carbon district heating network (DHN). The scheme would supply low carbon heat to developments in the heart of Nine Elms, Battersea Power Station (BPS) and the New Covent Garden Market (NCGM) initially, with the potential to expand north into Albert Embankment and to the more industrial areas of the OA to the west in the future. It is estimated that such a scheme could save in the order of 18,000 tonnes CO2 per annum, with heat being derived from a combination of low/zero carbon sources,including combined heat and power (CHP) plant burning a blend of natural and renewable biogas and heat from a biomass hot water boiler.” Further detail and download energy appendix here.

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Event: Community Approaches to the Green Deal

March 2012: An event organised by the Greener Jobs Alliance in conjunction with South Thames College and the Furzedown Low Carbon Zone. “Find out whether the Green Deal will benefit local employers and communities and find out how you can sign up to training courses.”
Thursday March 15th, 2012
1:30pm – 3:30pm
Performance Studio, South Thames College, Wandsworth High St, London, SW18 2PP. Please RSVP to Graham.Petersen@south-thames.ac.uk

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Green Streets, Strong Communities

July 2011: Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) report evaluating the British Gas Green Streets community energy challenge in which 14 groups from communities in England, Scotland and Wales were selected to compete for a prize of £100,000. Each was given a share of a £2 million injection of capital, as well as technical advice from British Gas, to spend on a variety of microgeneration (or ‘microgen’) and energy efficiency measures in community buildings and surrounding households. Two London schemes were included amongst the communities involved: Ham and Petersham (Richmond) and Hyde Farm Climate Action Network (Wandsworth).

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Wandsworth

Wandsworth main sustainability webpage
Wandsworth’s Guidelines for Developers – Energy Assessments -October 2010
Wandsworth Carbon Management Plan – June 2010
Wandsworth’s Environmental Action Plan (November 2010 Update) provides a detailed account of the Borough’s plans and progress on energy and carbon reduction initiatives.
Wandsworth Environment, Culture and Community Safety Overview and Scrutiny Committee

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Vauxhall Nine Elms Opportunity Area Planning Framework

November 2009Vauxhall Nine Elms Opportunity Area Planning Framework which includes a technical appendix (chapter TA5) setting out an energy master plan for the OAPF.

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