Memorandum submitted by the Combined Heat
and Power Association (CHPA)
OVERVIEW OF
THE COMBINED
HEAT AND
POWER ASSOCIATION
1. produced just over 19 gigawatt hours
of GQCHP electricity. This represents around 0.1% of the 28,677 gigawatts
electricity produced in total by GQCHP plants in the UK, in 2007.
Early information from the SDC as part of its annual The CHPA
is a long-established not-for-profit trade association that acts
as a focus for the combined heat and power (CHP) and community
heating industry in the UK, providing support across our membership
and working to establish and maintain the strong and stable market
conditions necessary to grow the application of these technologies.
The CHPA has over 90 members and represents a significant
proportion of the total CHP capacity within the UK. Our membership
comprises of CHP developers (small and community scale, large
scale industrial and utility companies), end users, suppliers,
public sector bodies and professional services providers.
WHAT IS
COMBINED HEAT
AND POWER
(CHP)
2. Combined Heat and Power (CHP) is a highly
efficient process of energy conversion, which maximises the value
of the energy that can be provided from a given quantity of fuel.
The efficiency of the CHP or "cogeneration" process
means that the technology has the potential to deliver major benefits
through savings in fuel consumption and reduction in carbon emissions.
CHP ON THE
GOVERNMENT ESTATE
3. Target E4, requires Government Departments
to source at least 15% of electricity from good quality CHP by
2010.
4. Whilst there is a considerable disparity
between Departments, reports from both the Sustainable Development
Commission (SDC) and the review by the NAO Office indicate that
as a whole the Government is failing to meet its Framework for
Sustainable Development targets. This is even more disappointing
given that the current target allows for government to source
the electricity necessary to meet its targets from remotely generated
CHP, but requires no physical or local relationship between the
generating plant and the Government consumer.
5. As the CHPA pointed out to the Committee
previously , this situation fails to leverage the powerful position
of the Government estate as a host for CHP or as a cornerstone
for the development of community heating schemes. However, the
Government's response to the EAC inquiry was silent on this point.
6. The CHPA note that Tim Yeo MP, Chair
of the EAC to ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise
and Regulatory Reform "What proportion of the electricity
consumption that the Government sources from CHP is obtained from
CHP stations located on the Government estate". The answer,
presented by Joan Ruddock, provides the most current update of
the Government's progress in relation to target E4 and how
many CHP's are currently in operation on the Government estate.
7. "There are 10 CHP schemes located
on the Government estate registered with the Government's CHP
Quality Assurance programme (CHPQA). In 2007-08 these 10 schemes
Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) report indicates
that total CHP generated electricity consumed on the Government
estate in 2007-08 was 311 gigwatt hours. This would
mean that the 19 gigawatt hours of GQCHP electricity generated
on the Government estate represents around 6% of the total CHP
electricity consumed on the Government estate in 2007-08".
DISTRICT HEATING
AND PUBLIC
PROCUREMENT
8. The CHPA strongly supports the view that
the role of the public estate is central to the development of
heat networks and on-site CHP.
Rationale:
The public estate can contribute to the viability
of CHP in a number of ways:
9. Provision of "anchor heat loads".
Provision of long-term public sector contracts for the provision
of heat (and power) can help to secure borrowing for network investments.
10. Growth to the industry in the short-term.
An absence of investment elsewhere in the economy, owing to the
recession, leaves the public sector as an engine room for growth
in a technology that offers long-term strategic benefits to the
wider economy.
11. A network for the transfer of good practice.
As CHP and community heating become recognised as best practice
in the public sector, there is an established network of professionals
that can help to promote their experience for maximum effect.
12. This position should be reinforced by
a proactive public procurement policy for the supply of heat from
CHP and heat networks. This could be achieved by extending Target
E4 to require departments to source a proportion of heat
from low carbon sources.
Rationale:
13. A public procurement policy for heat
can provide an effective alternative form of investment support
during a period in which more traditional forms of direct public
investment might be constrained owing to limits on further public
borrowing.
14. A secure government contract, for energy
services that would in any case be required, has the potential
to secure private sector debt, or potentially alternative sources
of funding for instance through bond issues.
April 2009
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