Developers may struggle to find renewable energy suppliers for their sites, consultant warns

Meeting statutory requirements for renewable energy provision could be more expensive than developers – and their consultants – have bargained for.

Property developers putting up housing estates or office buildings often seek an accredited off-site renewable (AOR) generator, such as a CHP plant, to fulfil their site’s planning and regulatory requirement for renewable energy.

But a consultant close to the government said AORs may sell to the national grid rather than direct to a developer, because it pays better.

“Service engineers will have to explain this to would-be developers,” said Brian Mark, director of sustainable development at Fulcrum Consulting.

At the moment just over 2% of the UK’s energy is from renewable sources, according to analysts. Energy suppliers will be keen to buy up as much generation as possible to meet EU rules if more sources such as wind power, CHP biomass and hydro installations come on stream.

Britain is supposed to boost the amount of energy generated by renewable sources to 15% by 2020, as part of the European Union’s revised climate change target. This now stands at a 20% cut in greenhouse gases by 2020.

Samantha McDonough, director of policy at CIBSE, said better, more efficient technologies would emerge and much better use could be made of existing technology.

“We have to find a way of bringing renewables into the mainstream energy supply so that manufacturers take the lead in innovating,” she said.

“More demand means lower prices as more manufacturers come on board.”

McDonough noted that renewable technologies can be successfully integrated into developments if they are considered in the early stages – before decisions are taken on such things as orientation, building form, number of storeys, heating and ventilation.

The government’s new Planning Policy Statement on Planning and Climate Change encourages cost-effective generation from renewables.

McDonough warned that some projects are in danger of ending up with inappropriate renewables because of lack of guidance.

Source

Building Sustainable Design