Monthly Archives: January 2012

Southwark District Heating project moves forward

January 2012LetsRecycle news reports on progress made by Southwark Council to develop new district heating infrastructure taking heat from Veolia’s energy from waste plant, SELCHP, to provide low carbon, affordable heat to 3,000 homes across seven  estates in Southwark.  Southwark will not be required to make any up-front financial contribution to the project but would instead sign a long-term contract to buy the heat at a guaranteed lower price than can be secured from the conventional energy market. Further details are provided in the following Southwark news release and some earlier posts provide some further background.

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Government’s ‘Green Deal’ needs to help the poorest

20 January 2012: The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents more than 350 councils in England and Wales, today warned that the Government’s forthcoming Green Deal would leave some of the country’s most vulnerable families out in the cold and could increase fuel poverty. Read the full news release here.

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Mayor’s Low Carbon prize

January 2012: Further details have been posted on the Mayor’s Low Carbon Prize, open to all students in further and higher education institutions in Greater London, who have ideas in helping reduce London’s carbon emissions and energy use from buildings. A total of £20,000 is to be awarded to the best ideas.

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The Hydrograph

January 2012: Community-led renewable energy scheme in Richmond, Ham Hydro, has recently published its first newsletter providing an update on their project, which involves the installation of hydro power turbines on the River Thames at Teddington Weir. Down The Hydrograph at www.hamhydro.org. Further information is available on the Ham Hydro energyshare webpage.

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Sky prepares big switchover to biomass power

January 2012: Business Green report on Sky’s new headquarter’s based near Heathrow where the installation of a new combined cooling heat and power (CCHP) plant that could supply up to 40 per cent of energy to the broadcaster’s main studio complex…At full capacity, the plant will take delivery of 32 tonnes of wood chips a day, sourced from local businesses in a 25-mile radius.” Read the full news story here.
Further information is available at Sky’s Environment Review 2011 report.

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E.ON leads CHP drive in London

January 2012: E.ON provide an update on their plans to extend their Citigen district heating scheme, based in the City, which serves both private and City Corporation properties, the latter including the Guildhall, Smithfield Market, the Barbican Arts Centre and the Museum of London. Read the interview here: more on Citigen here and here.

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Food waste could provide London with new gas supply

January 2012: An article highlighting how Creative Health Lab, a social enterprise based in North London, are working towards developing a small scale, community Anaerobic Digestion (AD) project. AD projects in the UK at present are generally large, industrial scale technologies, but Creative Health Lab want to see the technology scaled down to a more local micro- level. The project LEAP project (the Local Energy Adventure Partnership) is currently looking at two North London sites where they can begin trialling the small-scale AD technology. Read the full article here.

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London Energy Efficiency Fund – Drop in Session

January 2012: The £100m London Energy Efficiency Fund (LEEF) is a new source of funding for energy efficiency retrofit on public sector buildings in the capital. Following its launch in October 2011, the LEEF team have been holding ‘drop-in’ sessions for potential applicants to discuss the suitability of their project to the fund.

The next session is planned for 10th February 2012 at the offices of Arup at 8 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 4BJ between 12-4pm where “potential project sponsors and other interested parties are welcome to join the LEEF team throughout the afternoon for an informal discussion. There is no set agenda, but we are offering 30 minute appointments in advance for specific queries.”

Further information can be found at www.leef.co.uk

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Introducing a ‘junior electricity supply licence’ for boroughs

January 2012: The GLA have approved to fund a project to explore opportunities to introduce a junior electricity supply licensing system for smaller electricity generators, thus enabling London boroughs and their energy services companies to supply electricity they generate retail to their housing tenants and others. Further details on work to be commissioned here. This work will follow on from analysis already undertaken for Haringey – looking at how the council could have greater flexibility in relation to selling electricity from local CHP plants.

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Public-Private Approaches for Energy Efficiency Finance

January 2012: The International Energy Report (IEA) have published a report looking at examples of how public-private opportunities can be used to drive forward energy efficiency investments in the public sector. The report also examines the role of Energy Service Performance Contracts. A few international examples are highlighted – however no reference to London’s RE:FIT programme. The IEA report can be downloaded here.

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Revised Energy Guidance to Local Authorities

January 2012: Parliamentary Question from Labour’s Shadow Energy Minister asking Government on when the revised guidance to local authorities on energy efficiency is to be published. See this earlier post for additional details.

17 Jan 2012 : Column 677W
Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he expects updated Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 guidance to be published. [90449]
Gregory Barker: The Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 (HECA) requires local authorities (LAs) with housing responsibilities to report on action to improve the energy efficiency in their residential accommodation. The Green Deal will fundamentally alter the landscape against which LAs will fulfil this requirement.
LAs are currently considering the Green Deal proposals, which were published for consultation on 23 November, and what this means for their plans for energy efficiency locally. With this in mind we therefore propose to issue new HECA guidance in spring 2012.

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‘Low Carbon London’ Update

January 2012: London distribution network operator UK Power Connections was awarded funding under Ofgem’s Low Carbon Network Fund to undertake a smart metering project with a range of stakeholders entitled ‘Low Carbon London’ (more of which here). The Executive Summary of their latest Six Monthly Report has just been posted on Ofgem’s website here. The update mentions that:

  • A comprehensive campaign to identify 500 trial smart meter customers in London Low Carbon Zones has been undertaken and 263 meters have been so far installed (more of which here).
  • Partner organisation Imperial College has opened the ‘Low Carbon London Learning Lab’ (more of which here and here).
  • A series of ‘innovative DNO-level Demand Response Contracts have been signed’ – see earlier post for details on this.

The Low Carbon London project will run from January 2011 until June 2014.  UK Power Networks will work with Transport for London and electric vehicle owner groups to explore how best to meet demand from the country’s anticipated growth in the use of electric vehicles, and the impact of locally generated green power on the electricity network will be tested to ensure fast and cost-effective grid connections can be provided in the future. Imperial’s Low Carbon London Learning Laboratory will analyse the data from all the trial installations

The update helpfully states that – “The highly inter-dependent nature of the detailed design work requires a high level of intricate configuration management to ensure all internal and external inter-dependencies are accurately maintained as the overall and individual component designs progress and mature” – which I’m sure enlightens us all…

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