Greening Government - Environmental Audit Committee Contents


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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