ReEnergise sponsored a CLA Breakfast Seminar to talk to CLA members about Community Energy – how it works with a low-carbon technology district heating system, and how to finance it. It was great to see so many landowners at the seminar and the genuine interest in district heating systems. Thanks go to Robin Edwards, Director CLA South East for hosting the event and introducing ReEnergise.

We were fortunate to have Alastair Deighton, Estate Manager, Firle Estate to open the seminar and discuss Firle Estate’s experience with the biomass boiler they installed a couple of years ago to heat Firle Place, as well as the plans to install a community district heating system for the village. Alastair enthused about how successful the biomass has been, and how exciting the Community Energy project will be. Alastair explained that low-carbon technology should become the ‘norm’ for heating rather than being thought of as an ‘exotic’ new technology which is difficult to understand.

This was followed by Bean Beanland, ReEnergise low-carbon specialist who ran through the use of Heat Pumps and Biomass in a district heating system, and the conditions needed for each to work efficiently. Bean covered Government Policy on renewables in general, as well as providing up-to-date information on the subsidy regime, including the point that the RHI (Renewable Heat Incentive) is being closed for new applications on 31st March 2021. For the Firle Village Community Energy system, Bean explained that the village will be split into 3 districts, with the first district being heated by a biomass boiler, and the other two using a shared ground loop heat pump system: the latter an approach being firmly encouraged by the Government.

Finally, Kayla Ente, Founder of BHESCo (Brighton and Hove Energy Services Cooperative) explained the mechanics of how Community Energy works – including the financing and servicing of the district heating system. Kayla demonstrated her commitment to helping villages reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and the importance of getting the community involved so that residents can take control of their heating, both in terms of efficiency and cost.

There was a very informative question and answer session at the end of the seminar. If you would like to see the full presentations from the seminar, please contact Belinda Lyster-Binns on [email protected].

The Barlavington Estate near Petworth is a 3,200 acre diversified rural business which embraces agriculture, woodlands, residential and commercial property. It is a picturesque estate in the South Downs National Park with a keen focus on environmental management.

The owner of the estate is on the board of the National Park Authority and is well liked locally for his work in restoring local heathland and for organic farming. He has always been keen on embracing low-carbon energy options and hired ReEnergise to assess opportunities for managed energy infrastructure for the benefit of the tenants and the estate itself.

We have provided feasibility reports for a number of renewable energy options for the estate assessing the long-term potential for a managed energy programme on the estate.

So far, we have carried out two solar PV installations:-

• The first was an installation of 115.kW solar PV for the provision of solar power generation to a rural milking parlour. This project has a forecast payback of 4.5 years and total net benefit of over £460,000 over 20 years.
• The second, recently completed, was an installation of 49.95kW solar PV system for a small cluster of tenanted commercial farm buildings. The system now provides zero carbon electricity to the tenants as well as generating revenues for the Estate from the FiT (Feed-in-Tarriff). This project has a forecast payback of 8.4 years and total net benefit of over £125,000.

An initiative to achieve low-carbon energy installations for schools and other estates on oil, at the least possible risk and without the requirement for capital investment.

ReEnergise is currently contacting schools and rural estates that use oil for heating, to gauge interest in a new financing scheme that we hope will provide the catalyst for converting before the Renewable Heat Incentive closes for new installations on 1^st April 2021. For now, we’ve called it the Schools Low-Carbon Programme because it’s been developed in response to feedback from bursars and school governing bodies about existing options. However, it would work equally well for any rural estates seeking to transition without needing to find the capital.

Since first publicising it in mid-December last year 6 schools and one rural estate have already indicated an interest.

The nub of the issue is that there is a clear conflict between the national need to transition to low-carbon energy systems over the next few years and the challenges and risks that schools face in seeking to transition: in particular, a lack of capital for this type of project and no desire to be tied into a long-term lease.

We want to encourage as many schools as possible to consider this concept seriously in the coming year. For clients it would provide:

• The same or better levels of heat.
• Reduced annual operating costs.
• Budget security.
• A lot less hassle with the heating.
• Excellent sustainability credentials.
• Confidence of value for money.
• No need to find the capital or be tied to any long-term fixed lease repayments.

We will run each project on an open-book basis, at a level of profit agreed in advance.

If any reader is interested and has not already received a direct communication about this, please let us know and we’ll provide more detail.

We do believe this will prove a game-changer.

 

Mayor Trump has called a meeting in the market place. He is looking quite angry today.

‘Ahem. Some people here, bad people, have caused a trail of chaos and destruction in the town. It’s bad. Very bad. My new conservatory has been totally totalled. Gone. Not a conservatory anymore.’

Yes,’ said Mr Troop, the Town Clerk, who had been reinstated again and was learning to be a bit more mindful of who paid his wages. ‘The total bill for damages amounts to over £45, which is very serious.’

‘Serious,’ said Mayor Trump.

‘It was the b****y hurricane,’ said Chippy Minton, the carpenter and a known activist (trouble maker). ‘You’re smoking the wrong dope!’

‘My shop was flattened’ said Mr Clamp the greengrocer. ‘Fruit and veg everywhere, all mashed up.’

‘You could sell veggy smoothies now,’ said Mrs Minton.

‘Not funny,’ said Clamp.

‘I read a report by the UK Committee on Climate Change’ said Mrs Cobbitt the flower seller. ‘It said that we are already experiencing the symptoms of global warming and that it’s no coincidence that there are more hurricanes and fires and things now.’

‘Totally fake news,’ said Mayor Trump. ‘There have always been hurricanes and fires and bad stuff. Anyway, it snowed last week so how can there be global warming?’

‘Because,’ said Mrs Cobbitt, ‘warming causes more moisture in the air which leads to more extreme precipitation events. More snowing is just a symptom of that.’

‘I don’t believe it,’ said Mayor Trump, getting more orange, as he did whenever he was challenged and couldn’t get his way by bullying people. ‘Global warming is just a Chinese plot.’

‘Well global scientific opinion seems pretty unanimous about it now,’ said Mr Wilkins the plumber. He always kept himself to himself, so it was a surprise to hear him pipe up now.

‘I’ve been reading up on it,’ he said, as the others looked round at him with raised eyebrows. ‘We badly need to reduce our carbon emissions and clean up our act, or we’ll be in the doo-doo. I’ve started installing a heat pump in my house. It’ll work a treat, and the subsidies are fantastic. I’m actually going to save a lot of money compared to my oil-fired system.’

Miss Lovelace the Milliner started to see Mr Wilkins in quite a new light and moved over to stand next to him.

‘It’s a trap,’ said Mayor Trump.

‘No. I’ve had an independent assessment and it all stacks up,’ said Mr Wilkins. ‘Heat pumps are great. They’re clean; and the rate of subsidy is the best. It’s really going to help my bottom line.’ And he winked at Miss Lovelace.

‘Actually, we could set up a shared ground loop around the town and get lots of properties on it,’ said Mrs Cobbitt, who seemed to have become the local expert on these things. ‘The government is really keen on that now. It’s a good way for everybody to benefit.’

Mayor Trump was about to say something really quite rude, but luckily – as it was before 9pm – at that very moment the fire brigade arrived to rescue the town cat who had got washed up onto one of the roofs during the flood that came with the hurricane.

And the rest is history…

 

We are working with Brighton and Hove Energy Services Cooperative (BHESCo) towards providing the village of Firle in East Sussex with a community funded district heating system (DHS) providing both heat and domestic hot water (DHW). The village is off the main gas grid and the majority of properties are currently heated using oil boilers. A low-carbon DHS will not only save money for householders and other property owners but will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the village and other emissions.

Firle has developed as a linear village between the South Downs and the A27. It has an existing biomass energy centre at the southern end serving Firle Place Manor House and stables. Despite this there was an initial preference expressed for the DHS to be heat pump based.

As technical consultants we decided that the best way to analyse the options was to split the village into three zones. We considered multiple combinations of options from all three zones being fed from an extension to the current energy centre through to various different technical solutions for each zone.

We discounted the possibility of using a ground source heat pump (GSHP) to feed an insulated DHS because the constant demand for DHW meant the required output temperature was too high to run a GSHP efficiently. We concluded that the zone covering the main part of the village should be supplied by a DHS fed by a biomass boiler housed in an extension to the current energy centre. Biomass is ideally suited to this high temperature requirement and can meet the demands of the densely packed village centre with a number of higher demand non-domestic properties. Critically, it provides the most economic solution and attracts the non-domestic renewable heat incentive (RHI) for all heat produced. The Firle Estate manages its own woodland to produce the woodchip for the current boiler and are considering expanding the area under management to provide woodchip for the new system.

For the other two zones, with less density of properties, we are proposing a series of shared ground loop GSHPs. Using this approach means that it is ground temperature “brine” circulating in uninsulated pipes rather that high temperature water. Recent changes in the RHI rules mean that this system attracts non-domestic RHI.

The Firle Estate have given the go-ahead so the next step is to canvas the villagers on whether they will sign-up to the system.

We have completed a 50kW solar PV project for Repton School. The work started with modelling of options and feasibility studies for the school’s sports hall. We used the school’s energy usage figures to find the optimum solution in terms of cost and benefit, which resulted in the proposal of a 50 kWp solar array. We worked in conjunction with the school’s mechanical and electrical consultants who were introducing a combined heat and power (CHP) system to the site at the same time. We allowed for peak electricity generation levels when we applied for the solar PV connection to the grid together with a 30 kWe gas-powered CHP.

The solar PV panels were mounted on top of a new steel sheet over-cladding that was being installed on the sports centre roof. The enhanced roof was a proprietary system that required a compatible frame for the installation of solar panels.

The school is proud to promote their low carbon credentials, setting an example to pupils, parents and members of the public. In addition, the school is pleased with the financial returns ReEnergise achieved for them. We secured a high feed-in-tariff rate in spite of the building only achieving a grade ‘F’ on the sports centre’s EPC (Energy Performance Certificate). We did this by applying to OFGEM for an educational exception to the qualification. As a result, the school has 100% usage for the solar electricity and maximum tariff rates.

 

Sherborne Girls School is building a new Arts Centre. Being a performing arts centre the school was keen to have a heating and cooling system that was very quiet in operation. Also being a state-of-the-art building assembled with low-carbon in mind, the school were keen on a heat pump solution.

At ReEnergise we have supported Sherborne Girls with a Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) system to provide the cooling and heating requirement. The energy source is a closed-loop borehole array in the playing fields outside the building.

The system can be used to provide underfloor heating and can also be used to provide spatial cooling using a passive circuit to meet low level cooling demands or using an active circuit where cooling demands are higher. Both active and passive modes can act to partially replenish the ground array and, if both heating and cooling modes are utilised, the total annualised seasonal performance factors are expected to be very high, delivering excellent fuel savings and significant carbon emissions reductions.

It was great to see so many landowners at the Farm Business Innovation show in the NEC, Birmingham last week. Such an engaged and knowledgeable audience with an appetite to get off oil and look at how renewables might fit into their forward programme. We talked to over 70 delegates on the different opportunities for landowners on the table today including heat pumps, biomass and solar technology. Bean Beanland, Heat Pump specialist and Peter Speakman, Biomass specialist were at the stand to talk through the current technology, practical application and government subsidy regime and where it is headed.

Bean Beanland gave a seminar on the future of Renewable Heat to a packed seminar room. Please contact [email protected] if you would like to see the full slide presentation.

A shot of two of the arrays in the new 50kW solar PV installation at Solihull School. This was modelled and project-managed by ReEnergise over the Summer.  The subsidies are now being arranged. Once done, the vital statistics will be:

• Saving in Year 1 on energy costs: £7,000.
• Payback: 9 years.
• Net benefit over 20 years: £133,000.

This is a good example of a school taking the right steps to become more sustainable and in the process save money.

The Bursar, Richard Bate wrote ”ReEnergise managed and implemented a 50kW Solar PV installation in July for the school.  The project ran as expected with minimal fuss or disruption and was completed with no hiccups – if only all our estates projects could run so smoothly!”