NEWS INDUSTRY


INEFFICIENT ENERGY MANAGEMENT POLICIES


I


nefficient energy management policies and management systems are leaving companies and public-sector organisations “wide open”


to major financial risk, international certification body BM TRADA claims. Spiralling energy costs, growing concern over energy security and increasing regulatory pressure to reduce carbon emissions are making the need for greater energy efficiency a “necessity, not nicety” for all organisations, the firm says. Heavy-energy industry sectors including transport, food producers and manufacturers, public sector organisations such as hospitals, schools and local authority buildings, energy companies and construction firms have the “most to gain” from overhauling their energy management procedures. Failing to act could expose businesses to “significant” financial pressures and market uncertainties, as well as reputational risks, in the long term. A spokesman for the international testing, inspection and


certification body said curbing inefficient usage could save the UK industry sector billions of pounds in wasted energy. It also has the “very real potential” of reducing industry's global carbon footprint, which last year amounted to 75million tonnes in the UK alone. Tom Johnston, BM TRADA’s Chief Operating Officer of Central


Certification Services, said companies need to continue “rising to the challenge” of energy management. Speaking at the launch of BM TRADA's expansion into UKAS-


accredited ISO 50001:2011 Energy Management Certification, following a successful pilot scheme, Johnston said: “The cost of energy is rising rapidly, fuelled in part by growing


concern over energy security, and it is the business and public sectors that are feeling the financial impact the most. “At the same time, energy efficiency is now firmly on government


agendas in a bid to tackle carbon emissions and wastage in the industrial sector is being met with increasingly heavy penalties. “Outdated and inefficient energy management systems are not


only costing companies more than they realise, running into millions of pounds, but are also leaving businesses and organisations wide open to financial and reputational risks which they can ill afford to deal with.” The comments come just months after Sam Laidlaw, the Chief


Executive of British multinational utility company Centrica, warned that the UK would be reliant on natural gas imports of 70 per cent by 2020. Governments and NGOs around the world are putting


increasing pressure on the private and public sector to improve their energy efficiency and reduce their carbon footprint. In 2013, the UK produced an estimated 463million tonnes of


carbon dioxide — the primary greenhouse gas and a major contributor to global warming — of which 16 percent was generated by the business sector.


BM TRADA www.bmtrada.com MAJOR UPGRADE


IS IT THE END FOR LARGE- SCALE SOLAR IN THE UK?


Merseyside hydraulics firm Yuken Europe has completed major upgrade work at one of the UK's leading power stations. Speke- based Yuken Europe has completed projects at Fiddlers Ferry Power Station, in Cuerdley near Widnes, in conjunction with Industrial Hydraulic Services (IHS) Limited. Work involved the upgrade and replacement of hydraulic valve systems within the site's six cooling towers. Japanese-owned Yuken designs and


manufactures a broad range of high quality, durable hydraulic equipment including pumps and valves. Its technology is used across many different sectors and applications, playing a crucial role in the manufacturing process helping to generate, control and transmit power. Project manager Dave Broom said


Yuken's latest work is helping to maintain vital power supply by keeping cooling towers at the coal fired station functioning efficiently. "Yuken has designed and supplied


bespoke self-contained hydraulic systems with combined electrical control," he said. "Our hydraulic power pack regulates the opening of valves which control the flow of waste water into the cooling towers. The towers remove the heat and feed cool water back into the system. "The hydraulics are fundamental to the control of the cooling towers which in turn ensure the safe and efficient operation of the entire power station.


Yuken Europe www.yuken.co.uk


The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) recently published a consultation paper, on changes to financial support for solar PV, setting out its intention to remove the current support mechanism for large-scale ground mounted solar energy projects. The Renewables Obligation (RO) will


close to new projects – and extensions – above 5MW from 1 April 2015. Neil Budd, a lawyer in the Energy


team at commercial law firm, SGH Martineau, comments: “Whilst the industry was braced for bad news, the proposal to remove ROCs entirely from projects above 5MW has come as a shock. “On a positive front, projects of


5MW and below will remain eligible for ROCs and FiTs. It should be remembered that when the solar industry really got going in 2010, all projects were below 5MW and it was only the dramatic cost reductions that made ROC projects financially viable. So whilst the large projects may not now proceed, developers can, at least for the moment, still develop ground-mounted projects of a moderate size. “For large-scale ground-mounted


projects, DECC has highlighted that projects can apply for contracts for differences (CfD) under the new regime being introduced this year. “This is true, but the allocation


mechanism for CfDs has not been finalised and the budget for CfDs is not scheduled to be announced until July, so it is difficult for project developers who were anticipating commissioning projects at 1.3 ROCs to develop projects with no idea of the likely revenue stream. DECC is keen to encourage


EU COOPERATION FOR CHEAPER RENEWABLES


New research from Vlerick Business School’s Energy Centre says EU countries should cooperate with each other more to bring down the cost of renewable energy. The report shows that member


states should develop their energy transmission investment plans on an EU-wide level, rather than in isolation. Professor Leonardo Meeus,


who has been advising the European Commission on the


8 SUMMER 2014 | ENERGY MANAGEMENT


implementation of the EU Energy Infrastructure Package for 2020, developed a ‘competitive equilibrium model’ to determine whether the current framework regarding renewable energy transmission within the EU is the optimal design. His results revealed that when


countries develop energy investment plans on a national level, it has a negative impact on the cost of renewable energy – in


some cases up to an 89% increase. The model’s simulations also


showed that EU countries should trade renewable energy with each other – another way to reduce costs. Professor Meeus says: ‘’Even


though we have agreed to share the costs of developing renewable energy in Europe, we have not yet been able to do the same for the infrastructure alexandra@bluesky-pr.com


building-mounted solar projects and therefore is tweaking the degression mechanism for FiTs. This mechanism currently operates as follows; there are three-monthly tariff reviews and the amount of degression depends on deployment. Degression operates in bands, one


of which is a ‘large commercial band’ for installations greater than 50kW and stand-alone installations. The Government’s proposal is to split the ‘large commercial band’ into two separate bands; one for non stand- alone installations above 50kW (in practice, building-mounted installations) and the other for stand-alone installations.


/ ENERGYMANAGEMENT


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