Renewable Energy in Practice. The Energy Statement for Ashton Green Sustainable Urban Extension looked into possibilities of using multiple renewable energy technologies in order to support a planning application. The main areas are energy deductions in

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   10th of September 2011

Assignment B: Renewable Energy in practise


Index:

Introduction        2

Solar photovoltaic technology        5

Solar Thermal technology        5

Heat Pumps        7

Wind        9

Biomass        10

Conclusion        11

References        12

  1. Introduction

The renewable energy has been and is still being introduced to the practise to achieve main aims and targets of policies introduced by UK and EU government.

The current energy policy in UK is set out in the Energy White Paper and Low Carbon Transition Plan. The White Paper was introduced in 2007 and the Low Carbon Transition Plan in 2009. The plans are led by the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

The first mentioned plan (White Paper) sets out the Government’s international and domestic energy strategy to address the long term energy challenges faced by UK. The main aims are to cut CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050 with a real progress by 2010; to maintain reliable energy supplies; to promote sustainable market in UK and to ensure that every home is heated adequately and affordably.

The UK is committed to delivering its share of the EU target for 20% of energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Achieving our targets could provide £100 billion worth of investment opportunities and up to half a million jobs in the renewable energy sector by 2020.

50% of all our energy is used for heating and hot water and 75% of domestic households' energy consumption is for heating and hot water. The UK's renewable energy strategy aims for 12% of heat to come from renewable sources. Currently under 5% of UK electricity comes from renewable sources. It is estimated that 30% of our electricity may be delivered from renewables with 2% from small-scale electricity generation.

Low Carbon Building Program(LCBP) The Government introduced many plans to achieve the above targets. One of the first was the Low Carbon Building Program (LCBP) and Phases 1, 2 and 2e. It was a major government grant funding programme and provided approximately £131 million in grants for around 20 000 projects (between 2006-2010). The LCBP was run by Department of Energy & Climate Change and the grant programs were administrated through Energy Saving Trust – Phase 1, Building Research Establishment (BRE) – Phase 2. The Phase mainly concentrated on schools, churches, community projects and non-profit organizations. We (SolarTech Ltd) were part of the programme and we delivered lot of solar PV installations through the program. The programme covered solar PV, solar thermal, micro wind turbines, micro-hydro, ground and air-source heat pumps, wood-pellet stoves and wood-fuelled boilers. It was very successful program and it is now closed.

Code for Sustainable Homes - The next step to achieve the main aims was to introduce the Code of Sustainable Homes. It has been prepared by Government in close working consultation with BRE and CIRIA (Construction Industry Research and Information Association). There were also involved other groups such as a Senior Steering Group and NGO representatives. The Code is replacing the building regulations and complementing the system of energy Performance Certificates which was introduced in 2007 under the Energy Performance of Building Directive (EPBD). The EPBD requires that all homes (the existing home when sold or leased) have an Energy Performance Certificate. The certificate will provide key information about energy efficiency and carbon performance of the home. There are 6(stars) levels of the Code and each level dictates things like minimum standards for energy (CO2) and water efficiency, waste management, energy generated from renewables, surface water run-off, management etc. It is quite a complicated system and I have spent quite a bit of time studying it as it is very important to the Housing sector. I would like to show the example of a CODE 6 development which was a unique and the first multi-occupancy CODE 6 development in UK. The project was called Mendip Place/Mendip Road at Chelmsford via an Ingleton Wood HA. The solution included a dedicated PV system to each property so that all tenants would benefit from reduced bills, helping reduce the fuel poverty. The PV was specifically designed to maximise the roof space and to make sure that it meets the CODE criteria. In addition to the PV systems there was a centralised bio-mass boiler installed. The Biomass boiler is linked to a heat distribution unit in each property. The systems are monitored via GSM modems. The multi-technology approach (PV, Biomass, good insulation, and good fabric) has helped provide an industry leading integrated solution on this prestigious project.

There are currently schemes which should encourage people to introduce renewable energy in to their homes, shops, commercial buildings, school etc. One of the most important schemes in terms of producing electricity from renewables is the Feed-In Tariff.

The Feed-In Tariff (FIT) is a new (introduced in April 2010) Government scheme which should help to reduce the carbon footprint, energy bills and become more self-sufficient in energy. The scheme also allows earning some extra tax-free cash. It is also called by some people Clean Energy Cash back. The energy regulator Ofgem is the administrator of the FITs scheme. I quite like the scheme and the Government make it very clever. They learnt from mistakes of Spain, Germany where the FITs tariff ran out very quickly. Our government established the FITs in the to the Energy Act and every single energy supplier who wants to operate on UK market had to sign up to this scheme and agreed that they will pay a percentage of their profit to a „pot“ of the money. The „pot “of the money is being used to pay out the FITs. Basically the energy suppliers pass the cost of the FITs scheme to all electricity customers. So the bottom line is that people who do not install a renewable energy system will be paying those who do. The system is being very successful we have done over 4 000 installation of solar PV and wind turbines. The other technologies which qualify under the scheme are Hydro-power, Micro-CHP, Anaerobic digestion and existing generators transferred from RO (to 2007). I will explain each of the technology later on.

The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) There is a similar scheme to the FITs which is being introduce and it’s called the RHI. It helps to reduce carbon footprint and energy bills for the heating. The RHI scheme has been introduced for non-domestic installations and should be following by other in October 2012 as part of the Green Deal. There is a sub-section of the RHI and it is called the RHI Premium which is basically a one off payment for domestic installation which is in off gas areas. It should encourage householders to install renewables and targets non-gas users. It is bit un-fair to the gas users as I think it should be available to every householder. We can the pressure on our Government from the Energy companies. The scheme is still little bit un-clear and the government did not handle it well enough. It supposed to be introduced by the end of 2010 but the government with DECC delayed it till August/September 2011. It almost killed the industry. The RHI scheme covers heat pumps (air-source heat pumps are excluded from the non-domestic RHI), Biomass boilers, Solar Thermal, Biomethane. It should also cover Biodiesel (up to 45kW), Biogas, Biome thane injection installations but it is still un-clear.

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The Green Deal  - Finally I have already mention the Green Deal. The Green Deal should revolutionise the energy efficiency of British Properties. Is part of the Energy Bill introduced to Parliament on 8th of December 2010? The Government is establishing a framework to enable private firms to offer consumers energy efficiency improvements to their homes, community spaces and businesses at no upfront cost, and to recoup payments through a charge in instalments on the energy bills. There are some similar schemes already available regionally. The United Sustainable Energy Agency (based in Milton Keynes) through their Cocoon websites has ...

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