This one day Workshop brought together leading municipal energy practitioners (including 21 local authorities and a housing association), UK and Scottish Governments, and a range of commercial industry representatives to discuss strategies for financing district heating initiatives. The workshop was in two halves, with the morning focusing on public sector discussions and the afternoon on interaction between public and private. We assessed different commercial models, and their impact on governance in relation to project design, financing (including EU ELENA funds), and the distribution of risks, responsibilities and revenues. We also learned about the use of risk registers to drive progress by allocating tasks to those best equipped to manage them, and heard about the impressive work being done to establish a Community Energy Fund in Cambridgeshire. There was a discussion about local authority responses to the UK DECC Heat Strategy consultation, and agreement to sending a joint response. Each organisation also needs to submit views based on their specific circumstances. A presentation about Goteborg District Energy, established in the 1950s, revealed that the business now employs 1100 people, uses mainly recycled or renewable fuels and has a turnover of SEK3bn. In the afternoon we were joined by finance specialists from Ernst and Young and PWC, who demonstrated the costs and benefits of different ownership models, key determinants of appraisal metrics (such as internal rate of return), and the use of sensitivity analysis. We also saw something of the ambitious evaluation by Ramboll of the London Royal Docks district energy potential. Commercial providers (E.ON, Metropolitan, Mitie, Powerpipe, Regeneco, Veolia and Vital Energi) then answered questions from public sector delegates about particular development opportunities. Lastly, some folk got the opportunity to head off to the pub, despite the 'security incident' on the Tottenham Court Road which saw the whole area closed off! We'd like to remind anyone reading this to respond to DECC’s Heat Strategy consultation - deadline, 24th May.With many thanks again to our funders, the UK Research Councils, and to the event sponsors, Powerpipe and Ramboll.
Heat and the City's Leadership and Organisation for District Energy workshop (September 2011) was awarded joint second prize in the third round of the Edinburgh Beltane Public Engagement Challenge. The Challenge aims to foster a cultural shift within universities towards greater engagement between academics and broader society. The Heat and the City workshop brought together officers from local authorities actively engaged in development of new district heating networks, along with expert practitioners and policy makers, and was an opportunity for mutual learning, both between academics and practitioners, and amongst an emerging network of "vanguard" local authorities. The prize includes £1,000 for further engagement work.
Jan Webb, Sociologist and Principal Investigator of the RC-UK Heat and the City Research Project, has accepted an invitation from the Scottish Government Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism to become a member of the newly established Expert Commission on District Heating. The Commission is charged with advising the Government on the steps necessary to ensure a major move towards district heating in Scotland, and will work alongside government to remove barriers. Members are drawn from industry and community sectors, academia and public agencies. The Commission will contribute to energy and enterprise policy and housing strategy, and identify financial mechanisms for new district heating infrastructure. The UK Government National Infrastructure Plan 2011 and the Carbon Plan 2011 have given renewed impetus to development, and this year should see statements from UK DECC and Scottish Government energy team about their actions to stimulate investment in district heating.
Jan Webb joined other speakers from SCDI, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Scottish Power at a breakfast meeting in Glasgow to discuss the barriers to a low carbon Scotland, and the potential for action at city scale. Jan talked about the difficulties which liberal democratic governments face in managing the transition to a low carbon energy infrastructure, and emphasised the potential social and economic benefits of city-scale district energy. She argued that local authority leadership is critical to progress, and to effective partnerships with business and community organisations.
Jan talked about the significant role for community energy and heat networks in a low carbon energy system. She drew attention to the UK Government commitment to support community ownership of renewable energy in the Electricity Reform White Paper. A distributed energy system is more resilient and can reduce the costs of electricity network reinforcement by generating more energy locally. This system is established in Denmark, where rural towns use combined heat and power systems which also contribute to balancing the electricity grid. In the afternoon, Community Energy Scotland ran workshops to help community organisations develop their own energy project. More details and presentations available from Scotland National Rural Network
We are sad to report the tragic and untimely death of our colleague, Stewart Russell. Stewart had been battling with cancer since February. He will be greatly missed, both as a colleague and friend.
Stewart was Deputy Director of Edinburgh University's Research Centre for Social Sciences, and was a much valued member of the Heat and the City team. Much of Stewart's work was on energy innovation and governance issues. He undertook a major study on the history up to the mid 1990s of combined heat and power and district heating systems in the UK (read a summary here). His other research work on energy issues has included projects on health risks of energy systems; on renewable energy in Australia and ‘green power’ retail schemes in its electricity sector; on greenhouse gas emission reduction strategies; on domestic energy use; on ‘sustainable city’ experiments; on microgeneration; and on local government energy and sustainability planning.
As the memories and reflections of Stewart's colleagues and friends make clear, he had a great influence on his many colleagues and was much respected, admired and liked. He will be sorely missed. Our thoughts are with his partner, Lorraine.
On the 15th and 16th of September, the Heat and the City project ran a workshop on Municipal Leadership and Organisation for District Energy. The event drew together representatives from 18 Scottish and English local authorities who represent pioneers in the development of district heating (DH) in the UK. In addition, representatives of UK and devolved government, the Energy Saving Trust and a number of private sector experts attended.
Through presentations and discussion, the workshop explored solutions to the challenges facing local authorities pursuing DH as a means of tackling rising energy prices, reducing CO2 emissions and regenerating local areas. Many participants remarked how helpful it was to spend time discussing the nuts-and-bolts practicalities of developing DH systems with other practitioners, and were keen for similar events to take place in future.
The event was immensely valuable to the Heat and the City project, expanding the team’s understanding of the issues confronting local authorities and suggesting a number of avenues for further research. In addition to capturing the experience of a large number of projects, several key actions were identified such as the creation of a dedicated regional or national body to provide expert advice to local authorities, and the use of a central fund to underwrite a number of DH projects. These will inform the Heat and the City project’s research as we go into our second year.
More information and workshop downloads can be found here. The workshop was supported by the Scottish Government, the City of Edinburgh Council, the Edinburgh Centre on Climate Change, and the Combined Heat and Power Association.
Two PhD Bursaries, each worth £1,500 pa for 3 years, are available for PhD applicants commencing in September 2011, to work on sociologically-informed research projects linked to the 'Heat and the City' research project. Applicants should first contact either Dr David Hawkey (dave.hawkey@ed.ac.uk) or Prof Janette Webb (jan.webb@ed.ac.uk) for guidance on drafting a short research proposal. More information is available in the PhD Bursaries announcement.
This page was published on 10 May 2012