London aims for 20% microgeneration
Ken Livingstone yesterday set out plans to double the on-site renewables requirement for new London developments from 10 to 20%. The plans are still at the consultation stage so things may yet change but it’s certainly a promising sign.
For some reason, 20% seems like much more than double 10%. I think this is because you initially think: “Right – 10% on-site renewables. That’s a turbine on the roof” and therefore 20% must mean two turbines. Of course, this isn’t the case at all. One microgeneration installation can easily meet this requirement: for example, an average PV installation will provide about 30% of a household’s annual energy needs. What’s more, the primary goal of these policies is arguably to build efficient buildings which, p.s., then have a percent of their (now much smaller) energy needs met by microgen. In other words, the benefit to microgeneration from this policy is unlikely to be as great as some might hope.
There’s another interesting thing with this bit of news though, as shown by the following quote:
“No public money would be invested in new housing developments in the capital that are not designed to be carbon neutral over their lifespan.”
How sensible. If governments want to demonstrate their commitment to fighting climate change, acting through their procurement policies is a great way to do it. Comparing this statement with the abysmal performance of central government in its own estate, it once again seems that local government is the place for tangible microgeneration and energy-efficiency policy. Of course, it is just a statement. Who knows how things will work out in practice.
Can microgeneration and demand reduction be added?
I’ve been revising for my viva and was flipping through the DTI microgeneration strategy when I noticed a little mismatch, re: Ofgem’s demand reduction pilot (PDF). The original strategy says:
DTI will be investigating the possibility of a field trial that brings together smart meters and microgeneration to the effectiveness of smart meters combined with microgeneration technologies.
It’s a bit confusing but I would interpreted that as saying “We’re going to have a pilot looking at smart meters and microgeneration technologies working together”. To which, I’d say – great! Fantastic idea.
But when I looked at the Ofgem tender call a little more closely the word microgeneration doesn’t even appear. It’s very clearly about domestic demand reduction but the role of microgenerating households is unclear. This doesn’t mean that such a programme won’t eventually happen but it makes me wonder if, from a regulatory point of view, Ofgem is taking a strictly additive approach. That is, if they treat the benefits of microgeneration and smart metering/display monitors completely separately, they could look at a microgenerating household and a) determine that the household should get
It’s still early days and perhaps one of the tender bids will propose to investigate the demand reduction potential of microgeneration households specifically. But I think there’s a small risk that by considering demand reduction and microgeneration separately, any benefits from the interaction of the two will be lost. In other words, the 6% electricity saving that I saw in the PV households I studied (primarily arising from the use of a microgeneration generation-performance monitor) would fall between the regulatory cracks. Have to wait and see I guess!
Ofgem kicks off monitoring pilot
Two weeks ago, the energy regulator Ofgem launched a £9.75 million tender call to assess smart metering and monitoring in UK households. It follows from their earlier work on smart metering in which the ECI submitted a response, noting that energy savings of 5 to 10% are possible when consumers have better information on their energy consumption. However at the time, Ofgem assumed a more conservative 1% saving and lamented that little evidence was available on how UK consumers might react to such feedback.
This monitoring pilot study is an attempt to provide that evidence. For those who like detail, there’s a press release available or the full tender document if you prefer (both PDFs). Applicants are invited to submit their proposals for home energy monitoring and several ideas will be tested in parallel, allowing the results to be compared before drawing policy conclusions.
It will be very interesting to see what options are proposed. Energy feedback literature indicates that clear, timely and relevant information will be most effective suggesting that software-based approaches – where the household has to actually log onto their computer to either input the data or observe the results – might be less effective. Tangible displays that encouarge consumer interaction are much more promising. One option is something like Sharp’s JH-G51X PV monitor, which features consumption information as well as tracking household progress against saving targets. Others have experimented with devices that detail how different appliances in the home are used and provide customized advice to consumers.
If a particular project is seen to be successful, then Ofgem is likely to offer electricity suppliers EEC (Energy-efficiency commitment) credit for installing these devices. This could be a big push for increasing consumer awareness of energy – not just in microgeneration applications but in all households. I’ll keep following this as it develops but it might be a while. The tender closes at the end of September with the winning bids announced soon after; results won’t be available until 30 March 2007 at the earliest.