Small is beautiful

Funny thing, conferences. This autumn the BRE held an extravaganza on low-carbon technology as well as a debate on microgeneration and what should be done about it.

One delegate reportedly called for radical measures that included halting anyone from putting up a building that might slow down the wind to his rooftop windmill and that houses should only be allowed to be built if they faced south to catch the maximum of sun rays.

This isn’t quite what the government had in mind when it launched its now closed consultation into microgeneration strategy and low-carbon buildings. But you can’t knock a man for airing his views.

Microgeneration covers the production of heat and/or electricity from a low-carbon source through technologies such as solar photovoltaic cells (PV), combined heat and power and fuel cells (see box). The industry needs to get savvy about it as the government gets more serious about the need to reduce carbon emissions and hit both national and international environmental targets. Already, it’s demanding that 10% of the country’s electricity comes from renewable sources by 2010, and 20% by 2020.

So why should industry care? Well, the government wants to launch a new six-year grant scheme aimed at encouraging developers to install microgeneration technologies. This scheme will replace the current initiative known as the Clear Skies and Major PV Demonstration Programme.

A market for greens?

A major plank of this new initiative means that a number of grants will be available for large-scale projects. The government hopes these projects will capture the attention of the construction industry to help provide a market for such technologies and help them use the most appropriate technology or combination of technologies to deliver low-carbon buildings.

But is there really a market for it? Well, before 2004 there were fewer than 81,000 installations of low- or zero-carbon technologies, so hardly a burgeoning market. Low volume installation means higher prices, which could lead to commercial failure.

Prices remain another factor. For example a small wind turbine of 6kW capacity – sufficient for all the electricity requirements of two or three typical UK households – costs about £20,000. But costs are likely to fall over the next 15 years. PV systems are already falling, but are not expected to become as cost-competitive as other forms of power generation until 2020-30.

Philip Sellwood, chief executive of the Energy Saving Trust (EST) says that despite the obvious advantages of using different technologies to combat climate change there has been limited uptake of the technologies because of market failures, cost and legislative barriers.

So it’s up to the government to kick-start the market, possibly through incentives. The EST proposes that a proposed tax on planning gain should be tweaked to reward developers who build high energy performance homes by £1000 for each property. Other suggestions to stimulate use include making the code for sustainable buildings mandatory and include procedures for assessing sites for microrenewable suitability and urging planners to ensure developers incorporate it in new builds.

But more needs to be done. At the moment contractors don’t really have to bother with renewables as tenders don’t necessarily demand it. Tobias Parker, development marketing manager, and author of a report on microgeneration, for consultants Sustain says: “Contractors who bid for the projects are unwilling to include anything unspecified that pushes up the cost. Having microrenewables specified will allow contractors to compete on a level playing field and develop the necessary affinity with microrenewables.”

Renewables are here to stay and will continue to be a crucial part of the energy mix

Malcolm Wicks, Energy Minister

Contractors should take note as a growing number of local authorities already are. Merton is already trailblazing the 10% rule – the target for on-site energy generation from renewables for all new non-residential developments in the borough. Croydon has already followed suit and North Devon is seeking 15% on-site generation from renewables.

For the future, it is likely that Part L of the building regulations will be amended to cater for renewables. Deputy prime minister John Prescott’s office has already signalled that regulations could be impossible to achieve without renewables saying: “Such an approach would perhaps be appropriate if the supply capacity had grown to support such a market size by 2010.” For some associations this is key, but the Solar Trade Association in its response to the government stated a fear that construction may fight this approach, resulting in a “watered-down requirement”.

Prescott’s office is already championing the use of solar thermals in new builds which it claims are virtually cost-effective, adding “in the future there will be an increasing amount of building-integrated renewable energy systems. Building designs will therefore need to adapt so that they can readily integrate such systems in efficient and cost-effective ways, for example PV panels as cladding material.”

He may be happy with solar thermals, but not everyone is happy with the government. In its response to the consultation programme, the Micropower Council said the document lacked quantified targets, which means the required investment can’t take place. It adds the strategy also fails to fulfil the promise of a dedicated funding programme for PV made in the government’s Energy White Paper, which has so far not been delivered.

Installation stalled

Dave Sowden, chief executive of the Micropower Council, adds: “We receive numerous enquiries from microgeneration developers wishing to scale up their production about how difficult it is to attract investment against such an uncertain energy policy background. The absence even of any discussion of targets is disappointing, given how much we have been pressing this point with the government over the last few years.”

Another concern is the current lack of installers, which could see the drive fall flat. Parker suggests the government could fund training for installers within certain industries such as heating engineers and plumbers for solar thermal panels and electricians and M&E consultants could learn how to wire in CHP and micro-wind.

But are all these different technologies ready to be unleashed? Suppliers say yes, and point to successful projects. Green electricity supplier Ecotricity points to the two 85m high wind turbines that will generate 6.7 million kWh of clean electricity each year for Ford’s Diesel Centre in Dagenham. That’s the equivalent of providing electricity to more than 2000 homes. Tesco’s in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, has 96 solar PV roof panels on its petrol station. But these projects are few and far between.

A report by the House of Commons Committee on Public Accounts is also cautious. For example landfill gas, burning the emission from the breakdown of biodegradable waste in landfill sites, is a cheap source of renewable generation. But scope for further expansion is constrained by environmental legislation which encourages recycling of waste rather than disposal at landfill. In terms of wind, onshore wind is commercially viable but there is little UK experience of operating offshore windsites. On the other hand marine technology, which extracts energy from ocean waves or tidal streams, is at pre-commercial demonstration and needs further research, despite being favoured by the government.

On a more positive note, the programme is one that the government wants to work. Last month energy minister Malcolm Wicks revealed a study that showed investors are showing continued confidence in renewables. His message is to get with the programme, as “renewables are here to stay and will continue to be a crucial part of the mix,” he says. Let’s hope the way forward is a lot more construcitve than the delegate’s proposal at the BRE conference.