January 2020

JANUARY 2020

PROMOTING ENERGY EFFICIENCY

www.eibi.co.uk

In this issue Monitoring & Metering Heat Pumps CPD Module: Compressed Air Drives & Motors Energy in the Public Sector

Metering and motoring The challenge from EVs

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Energy prices at risk? The future post Brexit

Flexible heating solution Heat pumps meet the challenge

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JANUARY 2020

PROMOTING ENERGY EFFICIENCY

www.eibi.co.uk

In this issue

Contents

www.eibi.co.uk

Monitoring & Metering Heat Pumps CPD Module: Compressed Air Drives & Motors Energy in the Public Sector

Metering and motoring The challenge from EVs

Energy prices at risk? The future post Brexit

Flexible heating solution Heat pumps meet the challenge

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07

39

FEATURES

12

Monitoring & Metering Joel Stark explains the importance of gas metering and how this can form part of a strategy towards lower carbon emissions The Government’s target for all new cars and vans to be zeroemission by 2040 means the need for an appropriate EV infrastructure is vital, believes Will Darby (14) Many organisations make metering more complicated than it has to be. Tim Hooper offers some guidance to getting the best from a metering system (18) Maintaining a comfortable environment in a building and minimising energy consumption are conflicting challenges that can be overcome, says Julian Grant (20)

There is now a high-temperature heat pump that is capable of providing production cooling along with a 70oC hot water output, says Garry Broadbent (30)

34 Drives & Motors

Carl Turbitt looks at seven very diverse opportunities offered by variable speed drives that can improve building services efficiency Variable speed drives generate heat and usually that heat is unwanted. But what’s the best way to deal with it? Alan Baird looks at the options (36)

37 Energy in the Public Sector

There are five considerations every healthcare manager should consider when choosing a heating and cooling solution, believes David Simoes

27 Heat Pump Technology

Steve Keeton looks at a project in Solihull which demonstrates how ground source heat pumps can provide an effective heating solution

The pressure will be on the public sector to show the way when it comes to decarbonisation of heat, suggests Holly Croft (38)

Growing political support means the era of the heat pump has arrived, says Steve Addis (28)

REGULARS 06 News Update Time for the Government to flesh out its environmental policies while the deadline for smart meter installation is extended once again

10 The Warren Report Global alarm calls are putting the pressure on our politicians to deliver on energy-saving measures

21 The Fundamental Series: CPD Learning It’s often referred to as the fourth utility. Eric Harding examines how end users can make savings on their compressed air use

25 View from the Top Daniel Connell believes that a lack of innovation is contributing to a stagnation of the energy trading markets

26 Products in Action A German brewery revamps its compressed air supply while fan coil units heat a Glasgow dental school

terms of the UK leaving the EU. So can businesses be confident that the energy market will remain unchanged? James Longley investigates

39 New Products New to the market this month are a digital smart metering app for heat networks and a “revolutionary” thermostat

32 ESTA Viewpoint For the energy sector the next decade is going to be around finding a balance between technology and non-technology issues

33 Energy Purchasing Deadlines have come and gone in

42 Talking Heads Does solar PV remain a viable investment? Jamie Green explains that in certain scenarios PV remains a technology to consider

Follow us, ‘like us’ or visit us online to keep up to date with all the latest energy news and events www.eibi.co.uk JANUARY 2020 | ENERGY IN BUILDINGS & INDUSTRY | 03

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editor’s opinion

Follow us on @ twitter.com/energyzine and twitter.com/markthrower1

Ignore at your peril

T

he first few days of 2020 have brought

change is no longer an option. However, these issues

home the full realities of climate change.

were barely mentioned in the Conservative party’s

The images of the fires in Australia and

manifesto. The Committee on Climate Change was

the devastation on ordinary people’s lives,

steadfast in its recommendation that a net zero target

their property and the country’s wildlife have been

should not be adopted without the requisite policy

truly shocking. I’m sure that, like me, there are many

suite to achieve it. That was eight months ago, and

people reading this with relatives and friends who

it’s been seven months since then-PM Theresa May

have been affected.

enshrined that target in law. But in the months since

It will be fascinating to see, when the fires are finally extinguished, what shift there is in climate change

then, the energy white paper has been kicked into the long grass and inaction has followed.

policy in Australia. Last month Australia was given

With Brexit now a certainty it is imperative that

the dubious honour of being the worst-performing

the UK at least matches the ambition shown by the

country on climate change policy in a ranking of 57

European Union. Ursula von der Leyen, stated that in

countries. The 2020 Climate Change Performance

March 2020 she will formally propose a new climate

Index, prepared by a group of think tanks comprising

law committing all 27 member governments of the

the NewClimate Institute, the Climate Action Network

European Union to zero carbon emissions by 2050. She

and Germanwatch, looks at national climate action

committed to halving the bloc’s emissions by 2030.

across the categories of emissions, renewable energy,

So the pressure is on Boris Johnson to deliver in

energy use and policy. Australia scored the lowest

the coming months before the all-important COP26

possible rating of 0.0, compared with the highest-

conference in Glasgow. The UK has to be seen to be

scoring country, The popularity of the Australian

among the world leaders. There is far too much at stake

Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has plummeted as a

for any Government to ignore.

editorial Managing Editor Mark Thrower tel: 01483 452854 Email: editor@eibi.co.uk Address: P. O. Box 825, Guildford GU4 8WQ Social Media Assistant Sam Jackson tel: 01889 577222 Email: info@energyzine.co.uk

advertising Sales Managers Chris Evans tel: 01889 577222 fax: 01889 579177 Email: chris@eibi.co.uk Address: 16-18 Hawkesyard Hall, Armitage Park, Rugeley, Staffordshire WS15 1PU Russ Jackson tel: 01704 501090 fax: 01704 531090 Email: russ@eibi.co.uk Address: Argyle Business Centre, 8 Leicester Street, Southport, Lancashire PR9 0EZ Nathan Wood tel 01525 716 143 fax 01525 715 316 Email nathan@eibi.co.uk Address: 1b, Station Square Flitwick, Bedfordshire MK45 1DP

MANAGING EDITOR

Sharon Nutter Tel: 01889 577222 Email: classified@eibi.co.uk

Mark Thrower

circulation

inevitable greater interest in climate change issues. His This should be a warning that inaction on climate

the EiBI team

classified sales

result of his handling of the fires and there will be an future looks far from happy.

www.eibi.co.uk

Sue Bethell Tel: 01889 577222 Email: circulation@eibi.co.uk

administration/ production Fran Critchlow Tel: 01889 577222 Email: info@eibi.co.uk

THIS MONTH’S COVER STORY Why are there so many unfinished, unused, or ‘in disrepair’ sub metering installations?

Worse still, why are there so many new meters fitted as part of the building regulations without any useful connection for remote reading, or connected to a BMS and completely ignored?

Tim Hooper of Elcomponent believes that meter data has never lost its usefulness but it’s fair to assume it may have lost its appeal to energy managers due to previously challenging projects, failed sub meter roll outs, poor maintenance and degradation of old systems.

See page 18 for more details Cover photo courtesy of Elcomponent Ltd

publishing Directors Chris Evans Russ Jackson Magazine Designer Tim Plummer For overseas readers or UK readers not qualifying for a free copy, annual subscription rates are £85 UK; £105 Europe airmail; £120 RoW. Single copies £10 each.

Published by: Pinede Publishing Ltd 16-18 Hawkesyard Hall, Armitage Park, Nr. Rugeley, Staffordshire WS15 1PU ISSN 0969 885X This issue includes photographs provided and paid for by suppliers

Printed by Precision Colour Printing Origination by Design and Media Solutions ABC Audited Circulation Jan-Dec 2018 12,179

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Supplier snaps up competitor SmartestEnergy has announced its acquisition of small business energy supplier Dual Energy.

Complementing Smartest’s industrial and commercial energy supply business, the acquisition will help expand Sussex-based Dual, which has a particular focus in providing smart meters.

It is also set to enable Smartest to take its customer service to smaller businesses with nonhalf hourly meters, laying the foundations for the transition to net-zero, it said.

The acquisition will enable all of Dual’s customers to benefit from Carbon Trust independently certified 100 per cent renewable electricity.

SmartestEnergy’s VP of supply, Louise Wapshare, said: “This is a really exciting opportunity for SmartestEnergy to support the unique business model that Dual Energy have in this difficult to reach business segment, using our strengths to accelerate their activity to disrupt the business energy market.”

Ben Giddings, Dual Energy’s CEO, said the companies have worked together since Dual began trading nine years ago.

SmartestEnergy had previously been providing wholesale market access services to Dual Energy.

“The acquisition means we will continue to drive business smart meter adoption,” he added.

Driving the smart meter rollout is particularly important for suppliers, with Ofgem warning that it is “ready to take tough action” on suppliers that fall short of smart meter goals.

JOHNSON GOVERNMENT’S ENERGY POLICIES

Tories must now flesh out ambitions With the Conservatives having won 56 per cent of Parliamentary seats, attention has immediately turned to the Party’s winning manifesto.

Normally this provides some considerable guidance as to the kind of policy priorities and measures that a second Johnson government intends undertaking on energy and the environment.

The Conservative Party could have been highlighting its central role in delivering the deepest carbon emissions cuts of any major economy over the past decade.

Conservative-led governments drove the coal phase out, helped engineer the offshore wind boom, mobilised a major increase in clean tech R&D funding, adopted that world-leading

net zero 2050 target, and secured co-hosting rights for the critical COP26 UN Summit this November.

Surprisingly, there was little attempt in the manifesto to take credit for any of this. Nor, less surprisingly, for the recent 90 per cent drop in residential insulation installations regularly highlighted by the Committee on Climate

Change, nor to the increasing number of English households still forced to be living in fuel poverty.

The problem with the Tories’ green plans come not from a surfeit of ambition, but a deficit of detail.

So, while the winning manifesto does promise increased policy concentration, including funding to stimulate business energy efficiency measures investments including £500m to help energy-intensive industries move to low-carbon techniques, there is little precision as to precisely what mechanisms are favoured. It is expected to concentrate upon SMEs, and tightening minimum efficiency standards for leased commercial buildings.

Bank to accelerate financing for hydrogen solutions The European Investment Bank (EIB) has partnered with a coalition of C-suite executives from the transport, heavy industry and energy sectors in a bid to accelerate financing for hydrogen solutions.

Under the partnership with The Hydrogen Council, the Bank will provide strategic financial advice and support to companies across the EU which are preparing to deploy large-scale hydrogen projects. In return, the Council will help the Bank to identify and source hydrogen investment projects to finance.

Hydrogen is widely touted as one of the key pieces of the net-zero puzzle, given its potential to help decarbonise some of the world’s most high-emitting, hard-to-abate sectors. But given that the technology is still in its infancy, costs remain high and global investment remains far lower than in oil and gas.

According to previous research from the Hydrogen Council, global annual investments of $20-25bn (£1519bn) between 2020 and 2030 will be needed if the world is to align with the Paris Agreement. The body represents the likes of 3M, Audi, BMW Group, General

Motors, BP and Shell.

The EIB’s vice president Ambroise Fayolle said the Bank “shares common goals with the Hydrogen Council”. It has notably agreed to stop financing fossil fuel projects after 2021 as part of its bid to up green energy funding across the EU. “The European Investment Bank is the EU’s Climate Bank and financing new technologies and innovative projects that help to fight climate change is at the very heart of what we do,” Fayolle said.

Costs continue to tumble as worldwide battery storage market powers on The global market for battery energy storage - from car-sized units to utility-scale arrays - has grown rapidly in 2019 amid falling costs, new research from Bloomberg NEF (BNEF) has found.

The firm’s latest analysis of the global battery sector concludes that battery prices have fallen 87 per cent in real terms over the past decade, from $1,100 per kWh in 2010 to $156 per kWh this year.

BNEF notes in the research paper, entitled the 2019 Battery Price Survey, that more rapid cost reductions in real terms have occurred in 2018-2019 than any year prior. The research firm puts this trend down to increasing order sizes, largely by companies across the transport, utility and built environment sector.

BNEF is forecasting that battery prices will fall below $100 per kWh in real terms by 2024 – the date by

which it believes cumulative global demand will surpass 2TWh. As well as increasing benefits of scale, BNEF believes that the next three years will see battery manufacturing costs falling as packs are redesigned and supply chains are optimised. But it is forecasting more stark cost reductions in Asian markets than for the UK and mainland Europe.

“Factory costs are falling thanks

to improvements in manufacturing equipment and increased energy density at the cathode and cell level,” BNEF’s head of energy storage Logan Goldie-Scot said. “The expansion of existing facilities also offers companies a lower-cost route to expand capacity.”

On a longer-term basis, the BNEF report states that the global battery market will be worth $116bn (£89bn) annually by 2030.

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news update For all the latest news stories visit www.eibi.co.uk

CONSUMER APPETITE ‘HAS PLATEAUED’

IN BRIEF

Smart meter deadline moves to 2024

Software provider buys transporter

The Government deadline for installing smart meters in homes and smaller businesses has been constantly extended, and is now officially moved out from 2020 to 2024. The main target has also been reduced from reaching 100 per cent of eligible buildings to just 85 per cent.

Even so Energy UK, the trade body representing the companies charged with installing them, is now admitting that only one in eight smart meter suppliers is likely to meet even that new 85 per cent of customers’ target by 2024.

Consequently, Energy UK is now warning that “at best only 68 per cent” of premises are likely to have a smart

Energy data and analytics provide Stark Software International has acquired metering and independent gas transporter Squire Energy.

Managing director, Joel Stark, said: “The combination will allow Stark to offer both new connections and complex gas metering solutions to its client base of suppliers, intermediaries and energy consumers, underpinned by Squire’s deep technical expertise.

Stark provides data, analytics and metering services to around 30,000 UK firms. It claims to process almost 18 per cent of the UK’s electricity data.

meter installed by 2024. This includes the 13m buildings where only an elderly and regularly malfunctioning SMETS-1 meter is in place.

Smart meter advocates perceive these devices as crucial to boosting public awareness of energy use, in

order to drive down emissions and harness digital data for developing new green energy technologies.

To date, 16.5m smart meters of various types have been installed in the UK, but the latest intervention from Energy UK raises further questions about the management of the rollout programme by civil servants, seen as a core part of achieving the UK’s 2050 net zero emissions goal.

The trade association’s confidential letter to the Government admits “consumer appetite to proactively seek the installation of a smart meter has plateaued well below the levels previously hoped.”

District heating network to come to Merseyside Peel Energy has appointed renewable energy company Vital Energi to deliver its Mersey Heat network which will provide heat for up to 9,000 homes and 372,000m2 of commercial space at Liverpool Waters.

The district heating network has been designed to evolve alongside Peel L&P’s £5.5bn Liverpool Waters development and will begin with a temporary energy centre to serve the initial phases. As the energy demand increases, this will be replaced with a permanent energy centre which will deliver low carbon heat and hot water to the growing community.

The network will see approximately 1,700m of underground district heating pipework. This will be extended to connect future blocks as they gradually come online.

Mersey Heat, the Energy Services Company (ESCo), will own the heat network which will contribute towards the UK Government’s CO2 targets and help to make Liverpool a greener place to live, work and visit.

The first phase of the network will deliver around 11GWh of heat energy to people centred on the Liverpool waterfront around Princes Dock, Central Docks and Collingwood Dock to the north, funded by

Mersey Catalyst Fund. Peel Energy has developed the project in association with district energy consultants Ener-Vate.

Muir Miller, managing director of Peel Energy, part of Peel L&P, said: “It’s the first phase of a ten-year development project which we hope will eventually supply around 9,000 homes and numerous businesses along Liverpool’s waterfront and we’re pleased to be able to provide a cost-effective low carbon offer that will benefit businesses, residents and the environment.”

More technologies set to access balancing mechanism A wider range of technologies and providers will be able to access Great Britain’s balancing mechanism (BM) market as National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) makes changes removing barriers to entry.

As part of an update designed to improve equality of access for providers and boost the real-time flexibility of the system, the ESO is lowering the minimum threshold for taking part in the BM from 100MW

to 1MW, opening up the market for small and aggregated units in regional networks to provide power to the grid.

Following the market changes by the ESO and ELEXON, these providers will be able to register in the BM as a ‘virtual lead party’ (VLP) – a new type of participant which can provide balancing services without needing a supply licence or to pay ‘use of system’ costs (BSUoS and TNUoS) – and create secondary BM units to offer flexibility.

The BM is one of the tools the ESO uses to balance supply and demand on the electricity system in realtime, alongside balancing services like frequency response and reserve.

The ESO will now be able to accept offers and bids from smaller providers and VLPs as well as large generators, a change that will improve system flexibility, and allow more renewable power to contribute to balancing the grid.

Solar plant for army barracks Plans have been submitted for the development of a 1.4MW subsidy-free solar power plant at the Duke of Gloucester Barracks in Gloucestershire.

The plant will comprise 5,200 solar panels and generate enough electricity to power around 350 homes as well as save 400 tonnes of CO2 a year.

It will be connected by private wire to the Barracks – which means power will be consumed on site – accounting for one third of its total consumption over a year.

Cities to measure carbon footprint Google is to enable over 100 areas across the globe to access a digital tool which helps towns and cities to measure and reduce their carbon footprint, including major UK cities.

The tech giant is currently working to expand access to its Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE) – a digital tool which uses big data to help local authorities and regional governments to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on a city-wide basis. Building and transportation emissions are the main two sources analysed by the EIE. The EIE then uses this data to run scenario analyses, helping users to visualise future challenges and opportunities, and to develop their own decarbonisation plans.

It notably also assesses renewable energy potential.

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More needed to cut water use Almost two-thirds (62 per cent) of public sector workers in England and Scotland say they have cut the amount of water they use at home but fewer than half (45 per cent) are doing the same at work, according to research commissioned by Water Plus, the UK’s largest water retailer.

The research, published in a new report Flowing in the Right Direction: Water Use in the Public Sector, surveyed 500 people working across the public sector on their attitudes towards water use and the action they see their employers taking to encourage them to cut water consumption.

The findings – which offer unique and up to date insight for those managing utilities for public bodies – show that employers could be doing much more to increase water efficiency, which would lead to lower water bill costs too.

According to the research, just one in four (25 per cent) public sector workers say they are encouraged to reduce how much water they use at work. Yet they are more likely to be urged to cut the amount of paper (83 per cent) and plastic (74 per cent) they consume.

According to workers, water sits bottom of the list of priorities for employers, which also includes glass (42 per cent), food (32 per cent) and energy (31 per cent).

Less than a quarter (24 per cent) of employees say their employer has water reduction targets in place while more than two thirds (67 per cent) believe the organisations they work for could do more to encourage them to cut their water use at work, according to the research.

Changes in consumer attitudes are not being driven by cost. The findings show that more than half (52 per cent) of those who had reduced their water use at home had done so because they are concerned about their impact on the environment, compared to just 32 per cent whose motivation is to curb spending.

Andy Hughes, chief executive of Water Plus, said: “The findings paint a picture of a public sector workforce becoming increasingly in tune with its environmental responsibilities, but not acting with the same sustainable vigour as at home.”

GREENER DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CAPITAL

Climate driving a low-carbon London Climate and energy-use rules governing new buildings in London are driving greener developments and spurring the adoption of lowcarbon technologies across the capital, according to the London Mayor’s Office.

Across 130 strategic planning applications approved by the Mayor of London last year, new residential and commercial developments promise to avoid 39,000 additional tonnes of CO2 compared to the applications received during the previous year.

The data suggests estimated CO2 from proposed new developments were down by more than a third in 2018.

The level of CO2 reductions

from new developments is five per cent greater than from those approved in 2017, and far exceeds the requirements for the far less-stringent national building regulations. In a consultation paper launched last summer, the Johnson Government had been proposing removing the

right of any part of local government to set any energy standards that differ from national building regulations.

In the residential sector, the London report shows commitments to greater energy efficiency and investments in green building technologies helped drive a near 39 per cent year-on-year carbon reduction from major new developments in 2018, while nonresidential developments saw a more than 35 per cent reduction.

Taken together, the savings equate to an overall 36.9 per cent reduction in CO2 compared to planning applications in 2017, thereby outperforming the 35 per cent target set out in the Mayor’s own building regulations for London.

Pass-through costs could leave users out of pocket Optima Energy Systems, developer and provider of advanced energy management software, predicts that business energy users could be left unprepared for the changes implemented under Ofgem’s Targeted Charging Review.

Optima says a major area of concern is pass-through costs. It warns that organisations need to urgently review their bill validation processes or they could be at risk of collectively wasting millions of pounds on incorrect energy bills.

Industry experts estimate that utility invoices currently contain errors of between 3 per cent and 5 per cent by value of overcharging. A rise in the complexity of energy contracts means the error rate only looks likely to increase over time.

Optima Energy Systems’ business development director, Steve Kemp, said: “It’s something that was probably historically overlooked or considered not that important when bill validation software was first developed as pass-through costs only accounted

for circa 30 per cent of the delivered rate. But these costs are rising and now account for more than 50 per cent of the total bill, and this will increase to as much as 60 per cent in the future. With the changes being made it is more important than ever to ensure all passthrough costs are being thoroughly validated. Not doing so could result major discrepancies in energy bills being missed by your software.”

Transformer trial could lead to 2GWh annual loss saving Northern Powergrid (NPg) has announced a trial of transformers that could reduce core losses by up to 90 per cent.

The DNO is the first in the UK to try out the super low loss groundmounted amorphous transformers (AMTs), which could save up to 2GWh of annual losses, it said.

These losses cause approximately 1.5 per cent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. Of these, 25 per cent occur at the transformer, as such lessening losses could significantly reduce emissions.

NPg’s smart grid development engineer Aisha Ahmad said that losses had been an “unavoidable reality of network operation” for too long.

“Trials like this will help build our understanding of losses, support decarbonisation and make Northern Powergrid’s network as efficient and reliable as possible.”

The losses are caused by hysteresis and eddy current losses, created by the alternating magnetic field applied to a transformer’s core. This makes them a constant feature of most transformers from the moment they are turned on.

AMTs however, are made from materials that have low core loss properties of the materials, and as such can dramatically reduce them.

Over the next year, NPg will use the AMTs at its Jarrow, Consett and Bishop Auckland sites, as well as two sites in Hull. Throughout the trial, sound testing, thermal imaging and power quality testing to monitor the performance of five transformers.

The AMTs are manufactured by Wilson Power Solution, which has over 1,000 installations of Super Low Loss transformers across the UK.

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Meter supplier picks up award

INVESTORS’ MONEY TO BE CHANNELLED INTO CLEAN TECH

EU adopts new finance classification The European Union is to adopt a new green finance classification (called taxonomy), aimed at channelling billions of private investors’ money into clean technologies. New definitions will ensure tax breaks for coal, and – in principle - nuclear power, are out.

The new taxonomy will provide investors, pension funds and private equity firms with “a common definition of what is green and what is not, in order to channel more capital into sustainable businesses, and to prevent green-washing,” the European Commission has stated.

The strengthened “Do No Harm” principle forms the centrepiece of the entire European Green New Deal. It probably means nuclear power will be excluded from the EU’s green finance taxonomy when experts sit down to

agree detailed implementing rules this spring.

The European Parliament in particular has resisted all attempts by national governments to politicise the environmental criteria underpinning the EU’s new sustainable finance classification scheme. “Any investment in coal cannot be considered sustainable,” said Bas Eickhout (above), a Dutch Green MEP who was the European Parliament’s

lead negotiator. “ ‘Do No Harm’ will shift financial flows away from dirty, carbon-intensive investments and into sustainable economic activities.”

The deal creates three categories for sustainable investments: “green”, “enabling,” and “transition”. It also obliges companies with more than 500 employees to disclose how much of their activities are compliant with the three new categories.

The European Commission is defining “transition” and “enabling” economic activities on the way to netzero emissions, as part of efforts to reach compromise on a draft EU green finance taxonomy. European experts will now have to sit down and lay out thresholds to determine precisely which economic activities can qualify as green. These will include CO2 emission limits for power production.

Britain will need huge increase in energy storage Great Britain will need at least 30GW of energy storage if it hopes to reach net zero by 2050, according to new research.

The analysis, produced by Imperial College for energy giant Drax’s Energy Insights paper, states that as intermittent generation from renewables like wind and solar grows, the country will have to increase its storage capacity tenfold.

As efforts to decarbonise power continue, Britain is likely to source 70-80 per cent of its power from wind and solar power by 2050.

Storage will be needed to balance the peaks and troughs created by such generation, with the majority of power generated in the middle

of the day and the highest demand in the evening generally.

The analysis looked at 28 scenarios from 24 independent studies and how they forecast renewables growth, and the following need for storage. It showed that within these 70-80 per cent renewable scenarios, GB would require storage capacity of

around a third of peak electricity demand.

At the moment, on average renewables make up a quarter of the country’s electricity mix, according to the analysis. With each unit of intermittent power added though, an additional 0.2 units of energy storage capacity will be needed to keep the grid stable and the supply smooth.

This could be a huge challenge for GB, which currently only has 3GW of storage, but will need to increase it to 30GW. The lead author Dr Iain Staffell said that storage stood to play a pivotal role in dictating the pace, scale and cost of the energy transition.

Organisations sign up to Net Zero Buildings commitment Goldman Sachs and Lendlease Funds Management Australia are among private sector companies to make commitments to cut emissions from their buildings to net zero.

The organisations, including Hudson Pacific Properties and Petinelli, have signed up to the World Green Building Council’s (WorldGBC) Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment, pledging to take urgent action to ensure their portfolios operate at net zero carbon by 2030 or sooner.

Lendlease Funds Management Australia has committed four of its property investment fund entities to the Commitment, which includes Lendlease Australia Prime Property Fund Commercial, Lendlease International Towers Sydney Trust, Lendlease Australia Prime Property Fund

Industrial and Lendlease One International Towers Sydney Trust.

Energy efficiency will be a central component to achieving decarbonisation across the organisations’ building portfolios, in addition to generating and procuring renewable energy.

Globally, almost 40 per cent of energy-related greenhouse gases are emitted from buildings, with 28 per cent coming from the operations of buildings themselves.

Among the commitments are Goldman Sachs aiming to certify 70 per cent of building footprint through LEED or equivalent green building standards while reducing energy consumption.

DMS Metering Solutions has won the Honeywell 2019 Channel Partner of the Year award for Northern Europe.

DMS have a long-standing business relationship with Honeywell, dating back over 20 years, covering multiple product ranges and solutions from Honeywell’s extensive portfolio.

DMS is an independent supplier of gas, heat, water and specialist metering and control solutions, principally operating within the building services, utility, sub distribution and OEM /renewables market sectors, with a proven track record over 20 years.

Honeywell’s product portfolio incorporates several historically wellknown trading names, including Elster, Jeavons, Instromet, Kent Meters and Bryan Donkin. All these product ranges are available from and supported by DMS in the UK. Among the products DMS offers is Honeywell’s BK-G range of diaphragm gas meters that range from the domestic BK-G4 up to the industrial size 100mm BK-G100. They are favoured by the majority of UK utility companies.

The Honeywell QA range of turbine gas meters is a popular choice for both sub metering and industry applications. Suitable for methane, town gas, natural gas, air and inert gases, the QA range covers sizes from 25mm to 150mm.

Honeywell’s Rabo rotary gas meters offer accurate measurement instruments for gas distribution companies. The range caters for both utility and sub metering application, aided by multiple output options, including low-frequency pulse, absolute encoder and M-Bus. Also available through DMS are Honeywell’s gas pressure regulators.

The applications range from lowcapacity residential use for individual households, commercial and industrial uses up to the field of gas transmission where it is necessary to control high flow capacities.

The UK gas industry has been a long-time user of Honeywell Bryan Donkin as its standard for gas control equipment, guaranteeing long lasting reliability, quality and service. The product line includes: gas pressure regulators, filters, safety cut-off valves, relief valves, non-return valves, ancillary control equipment and product spares.

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THE WARREN REPORT

01.20 Andrew Warren is chairman of the British Energy Efficiency Federation

The year energy saving becomes fashionable Global alarm calls are putting the pressure on our politicians to deliver on energysaving measures. For the first time in many years there is cause for optimism

L

et me start 2020 with this bold prediction. During these next 12 months, we shall experience a complete step change in attitudes regarding the profligacy of energy usage. This will be true of politicians.

It will be true for TV, radio and print media. It will be true for local opinion formers and influencers. And it will be particularly true of everyday people throughout the British Isles.

Why do I believe that this Cinderella topic will at last receive the attention it has long merited? Why am I confident that energy efficiency, indeed energy conservation, will suddenly become again fashionable for everybody? Simple.

It is now almost half a century since there was any wide consciousness of the need to reduce energy consumption, when the slogan “Save It – You Know It Makes Sense ” became common parlance. It followed the fuel shortages caused by the rise of OPEC in the Middle East and coal miner strikes. Precipitating a sense of unrest, indeed near panic, culminating in the three-day week where offices and factories were shut down

by Government diktat, and TV ceased broadcasting after 10.30 at night.

During the second half of 2019 a similar combination of apocalyptic alarm calls from climatologists have been augmented by weekly protests from schoolchildren, the amorphous Extinction Rebellion marchers blocking city centres. This all culminated in Parliament declaring formally that there was a Climate Emergency that required Net Zero Emissions within 30 years.

During last month’s General Election every single political party that had MPs elected committed to increasingly dramatically the number of homes, the number of businesses, the number of public buildings, in which extra energy-saving measures would be urgently installed.

Acknowledging the unprecedented interest, Channel 4 even hosted a 60-minute prime time debate among party leaders devoted exclusively to practical measures for combatting the threat of climate change.

Simultaneously, political leaders and climate diplomats from across the world were meeting in Madrid for a fortnight of talks, called COP25, amid a growing sense of crisis. It began with UN secretary general António Guterres announcing that the climate crisis was imminent and political leaders had to respond.

Greenhouse gas emissions should be falling Back in 2016 the Paris Agreement had been signed by every government. It had been agreed that, to stabilise the climate, temperatures in 2030 had to be no more than two degrees higher than in 1990. To achieve this minimum goal, greenhouse gas emissions should already be falling by at least 3 per cent every single year. But that wasn’t happening. The previous year (2018) these emissions hadn’t dropped at all.

Instead they had increased by some 2 per cent.

Guterres warned: “In the crucial 12 months ahead, it is essential that we secure more ambitious national commitments – particularly from the main emitters – to immediately start reducing greenhouse gas emissions at a pace consistent to reaching carbon neutrality by 2050….the point of no return is no longer over the horizon. It is in sight and hurtling toward us”.

Guterres stated that the world had the scientific knowledge and the technical means to limit global warming, but “what is lacking is political will. Political will to put a price on carbon. Political will to stop subsidies on fossil fuels. Political will to stop building coal power plants from 2020 onwards.

Political will to shift taxation from income to carbon. Taxing pollution instead of people.”

The talks were held in Madrid, a last-minute decision.

Spanish environment minister Teresa Ribera explained that Spain’s decision to host the talks was essential to prevent

‘Be in no doubt that the Prime Minister will need to have the track record to justify strutting his stuff at COP26 in Glasgow’

the collapse in international climate efforts: “We couldn’t have the risk that the conference didn’t take place at a critical moment, and risk the implosion of the whole system to deal with climate change.“ A coalition of small island states issued an impassioned plea to the industrialised world. “We see [these talks] as the last opportunity to take decisive action,” said Janine Felson, deputy chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), adding: “Anything short of vastly greater commitment to emission reduction, a new climate finance goal and tangible support for disaster risk reduction will signal a willingness to accept catastrophe.”

Closing the conference, the new European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, stated that in March 2020 she will formally propose a new climate law committing all 27 member governments of the European Union to zero carbon emissions by 2050. She committed to halving the bloc’s emissions by 2030.

She plans to extend her flagship policy, the European emissions trading scheme (EU:ETS), to cover the maritime sector and road transport, plus reducing free allowances currently available for aircraft. Her intention is to shift 75 per cent of fossil fuel road transport to other means, deploying alternative infrastructure like railways and nonfossil fuels.

Above all, the centrepiece of her administration will be a Green New Deal, which will radically improve the energy performance of Europe’s 300m buildings over the next decade.

On November 9 the UK Government will begin hosting the next international climate change conference (COP26) in Glasgow. Given this background, be in no doubt that the Prime Minster will need to have the track record to justify strutting his stuff, demonstrating how the UK has introduced a range of effective new world-leading policies. And that many of these will be delivering so many more energy-saving investments than today. I feel very comfortable with my optimism. 

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Monitoring & Metering For further information on Stark visit www.eibi.co.uk/enquiries and enter ENQUIRY No. 125

Don’t overlook the humble gas meter Joel Stark explains the importance of gas metering and how this can form part of a strategy towards lower carbon emissions

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as is embedded into the current UK energy system and has significantly lower CO2 emissions on combustion per unit of energy delivered than either coal or oil. However, it has higher emissions than nuclear and most renewable energy sources.

Moving to a low-carbon energy system is front of mind for businesses but how can they do this? Taking control of gas metering can be part of the puzzle to reduce consumption.

We all know that the UK is moving further towards a costeffective and low-carbon energy system. It was the first major economy to commit to net-zero emissions by 2050. It is also becoming clear that the role the gas sector can play in the reduction of carbon emissions is bigger than first thought.

In 2018, natural gas accounted for 39 per cent (880TWh) of primary energy demand. UK gas demand is dominated by two sectors: domestic consumption and power generation, which together make up about 70 per cent of demand; the remainder goes to industrial, commercial and other uses. (UK Government (2019), Digest of UK Energy Statistics).

Managing gas consumption is therefore a key part of delivering the NetZero 2050 targets.

Gas energy demand is highly seasonal and driven by the obvious need for heating in winter.

However, there remains a real and achievable opportunity for businesses to reduce and eliminate gas waste over the winter months.

Wasted gas most often occurs when: • boilers are left on when a building is empty; • boilers are working unnecessarily all year round; • limited visibility in your gas

Having the right data

‘Taking control of gas metering can be part of reducing consumption’

Identifying wasted gas is simple provided you have the right data.

To get the data you need a robust metering platform. To find the opportunities to avoid wasted gas you need detailed analytics. Being able to “see” your gas consumption in granular detail can really help identify any inefficiencies in building operation and boiler controls as well as your waste consumption when the building is empty.

Empowering our customers to better manage their energy is at

the very core of what we do. As an energy data and analytics company, we know a lot about how to ensure our customers have access to high quality energy data and where to find savings and what to monitor to make the savings continue.

We have recently worked with Cheney School, a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, in Headington, Oxford.

Using Stark’s data collection

consumption means opportunities to reduce are missed; and • boiler controls have been overridden.

Limited visibility in your gas consumption means opportunities to reduce consumption can be missed

Joel Stark is managing director at Stark

and energy analytics tool, Cheney School was able to identify 32 per cent potential reductions in gas consumption from “wasted gas”, resulting in a huge cost saving and contributor to emissions goals.

But they’re not alone. Across over 500+ schools Stark provides gas metering, data and analytic services for, we found that over £500,000 savings were possible just by eliminating wasted gas between Christmas Day and New Year. That is enough to justify another 25 new full time teachers!

We find many organisations simply do not enjoy easy access to daily gas data. This contrasts hugely with the electricity market where access to high quality data is a given. However, you have the power to change this. You can choose your own Gas Meter Asset Manager (MAM) and enjoy direct access to your meter data from an independent expert.

Gas MAMs are responsible for the design, installation, commission, maintenance, removal and disposal of gas meters and are well placed to ensure uninterrupted, direct access to your data. Stark’s gas MAM is the first of its kind to put the customer data needs at its heart.

We provide an end to end service from meter through data and include a powerful analytics tool in a simple bundle which you can often even pay for via your supplier’s bill.

We’re seeing more and more organisations who are frustrated at their current lack of data follow this route. They are actively taking control of their gas data by choosing solutions such as ours that offer the same choice and transparency that they already benefit from with their electricity. And we keep seeing that with high quality gas data organisations can make informed changes to their gas consumption to achieve greater savings.

We predict that the UK’s commitment to commit to net-zero emissions by 2050 and the movement to a low-carbon energy system will see greater opportunities within the gas sector.

Accurate monitoring and analysis of consumption coupled with the empowerment of gas MAMs will be part of this journey to emission reduction. 

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Monitoring & Metering

Will Darby is managing director of Carlo Gavazzi

For further information on Carlo Gavazzi visit www.eibi.co.uk/enquiries and enter ENQUIRY No. 126

Metering and chargepoints The Government’s target for all new cars and vans to be zero-emission by 2040 means the need for an appropriate EV infrastructure is vital. Will Darby discusses why metering will play a crucial role

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n 2018 the government published the Road to Zero strategy, which set out its intention for all new cars and vans to be zero emission by 2040. Last year the government published a consultation on Electric Vehicle Charging in Residential and Non-Residential Buildings1 and a consultation on Smart Charging2 to encourage consumers to charge electric vehicles when grid demand is off-peak.

The consultation includes a proposal to create a new part to the Building Regulations in England to ensure that all new homes with a dedicated car parking space are built with an electric charge point and a metering system to monitor and record the electricity consumed (or exported) making charging easier, cheaper and more convenient for drivers.

In addition to new homes, the government is proposing that the requirement for chargepoints will include buildings “undergoing a material change of use to create a dwelling”; this would be the case, for example, where an old warehouse is converted into residential apartments. Similarly, apartment blocks with more than 10 car parking spaces undergoing major renovation will have to have cable routes for electric vehicle chargepoints in every parking space. The intention is that the same rules will also apply to every non-residential building with more than 10 parking spaces undergoing a major renovation. And from 2025, there should be at least one charge point in existing non-residential buildings with more than 20 car parking spaces.

The government’s longer-term objective is to use smart meters to send load control signals to smart chargepoints to control loads on the grid, perhaps by limiting charging to grid off-peak periods to help control grid peak loading.

If adopted, the policies will ensure the UK has one of the best electric vehicle infrastructure

networks in the world.

The consultation says that all new, smart chargepoints will be required to comply with a new British Standard, which is currently under development and is expected to be published early this year. Charge points must have a minimum power rating of 7kW and be fitted with a universal socket that can charge all types of electric vehicle currently on the market and meet safety and accessibility requirements.

Smart functionality The Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018 (AEV Act) gives Government the powers, through secondary legislation, to ensure that all chargepoints sold or installed in the UK will have smart functionality.

Section 15 of the AEV Act states that “a person must not sell or install a charge point unless it complies with prescribed requirements,” which includes the ability of a chargepoint to monitor and record energy consumption. This means metering will be a key element in chargepoint installation for electric vehicles.

In the Electric Vehicle Smart Charging consultation document the government says that monitoring electricity consumption will help engage consumers with their energy bills and usage. The document says: “This requirement would ensure that the chargepoint must monitor and record the electricity consumed

and/or exported, the time the charging event lasts and provide a method for the consumer to view this information”.

There is already a similar metering requirement for public electric vehicle chargepoints under the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulations 20173. These regulations state that “an infrastructure operator must ensure that all recharging points for which that operator is responsible incorporate intelligent metering systems”. An intelligent metering system, in this instance, is “an electronic system that can measure energy consumption, providing more information than a conventional meter and can transmit and receive data using a form of electronic communication”.

The consultation says the Energy analysers are ideal for EV cost allocation and sub metering

information could be provided to users in various ways, for example through an application, and could be provided on a period basis or in real time. It is also worth noting that the government is proposing that non-compliance with the new rules for chargepoints will result in a fine “for each non-compliant chargepoint sold or installed”.

The type of meter that could be used for residential AC power chargepoint applications include Carlo Gavazzi’s single phase energy meter, Type EM111. This meter, which features a backlit LCD display and integrated touch keypad is suitable for active energy metering and cost allocation applications and dual tariff management.

For three phase applications, such as public AC power fast charging (2 to 6 hours charge time) chargepoints, Carlo Gavazzi’s EM340 or EM24-E1 energy analyser are suitable. They and are certified according to the MID Directive making them ideal for cost allocation and legal sub-metering and for fiscal/legal sub-billing in both commercial and residential three phase EV charging applications.

With the UK Parliament having declared a climate change emergency it’s seems likely the government will want to do all it can to encourage the take-up of electric vehicles. This consultation and the proposed regulatory changes and the adoption of a metering strategy to record the electricity consumed or exported to the grid will help ensure the UK has one of the best electric vehicle infrastructure networks in the world. 

References 1. www.gov.uk/government/ consultations/electric-vehiclechargepoints-in-residential-and-nonresidential-buildings 2. www.gov.uk/government/ consultations/electric-vehicle-smartcharging 3. www.legislation.gov.uk/ uksi/2017/897/contents/made

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Airport feels the benefits of heat meters

Sub-meters keep police on track

Multiple Micronics U3000 heat meters have been installed at a major London airport.

Many were used in the Biomass Energy Centre and in the 694 Cooling Station where all the chillers are located for Terminal 3.

The data has been used to ensure that the plant to which they are connected accurately monitors and evaluates performance. His choice was subsequently approved by the consultants employed on the project.

Duncan Hopkins, project manager for J&D Hopkins Services, chose the U3000 heat meters because it meant that there was no need to cut into pipes which, in turn meant that installation costs were minimal. They are configured for pipe size so there is nominal configuration on site and because they feature an easy to follow menu they provide a cost-effective alternative to the installation of a traditional in-line meter. They are designed to work with clamp on transducers and with their easy to follow menu and simple set up they proved to be a cost-effective alternative to a traditional in-line meter installation.

An initiative by Bedfordshire Police force to improve its energy efficiency has delivered a 25 per cent cut in power bills in two years through a mix of energy-saving initiatives, including the use of a Sinergy portable sub-metering unit.

The force invested in the handheld Sinergy e-TRacKER kWh submeter two years ago and since then it has toured the county’s police stations, operational bases and Kempston headquarters auditing energy use and highlighting areas of inefficient power use.

“The sub-meter has saved us a significant amount of money and, perhaps just as importantly, it has helped us to target and prioritise energy saving initiatives,” said the force’s estates and facility manager Nigel Achurch. “At headquarters e-Tracker identified unbalanced loads across the three phases. We are investigating what we can move from one phase to another to bring the apparent power closer to the true power.” continues Nigel. e-Tracker, which monitors incoming power supply to show the pattern of demand over an hour, day, week or month, was installed for two/three weeks per distribution board at each location. Data was collected via a USB device and then downloaded and examined.

The results were surprising, with e-Tracker identifying a number of sites where significant savings were possible, for example a malfunctioning weather compensation unit linked to night storage heaters.

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Monitoring & Metering For further information on Elcomponent Ltd visit www.eibi.co.uk/enquiries and enter ENQUIRY No. 130

Make metering easy Many organisations make metering more complicated than it has to be.

Tim Hooper offers some guidance to getting the best from a metering system

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hy are there so many unfinished, unused, or ‘in disrepair’ sub metering installations? Worse still, why are there so many new meters fitted as part of the building regulations without any useful connection for remote reading, or connected to a BMS and completely ignored?

Meter data has never lost its usefulness but it’s fair to assume it may have lost its appeal to energy managers due to previously challenging projects, failed sub meter roll outs, poor maintenance and degradation of old systems.

No one should be in any doubt that a metering system is about data, so if the data is not valuable or not used – you don’t need a metering system. Although one has to question how large organisations can manage energy and sustainability without extensive use of metering data.

Looking from the view of a company providing metering expertise, it is sometimes difficult to see why so many customers struggle with metering. However, if one views this from a customer perspective it may be clearer to understand if not resolve.

While I am certain metering data is undervalued, it has to be accepted that the reluctance to use metering data must in some part be attributed to: • bad experience/bad choice of contractor and or equipment; • lack of resources to analyse data; • lack of knowledge; • degrading systems overdue for replacement; and • lack of understanding of meters and metering systems.

Organisations need to accept that metering, and metering systems are not simple. They are not ‘fit and forget’ and they need some degree of operation/oversight to stay working. It is totally unrealistic to think otherwise.

Any system over 20-50 meters can begin to get complex with respect

to installation and data collection.

Installation of a metering solution is multi-disciplined and needs experienced and knowledgeable installers. Systems over 100 meters become highly complex to install because every aspect of electrical installation, cabling and communication may have to be deployed to create a coherent and robust solution. Over 500 meters, and these projects will get quite challenging.

Common characteristics There are many successful metering implementations and there are many ways to achieve this. In most cases there a few main common characteristics: • the customer uses the data and therefore attributes a value to the system; • systems are managed and maintained;

• the use of correct and appropriate equipment; and • expert installation and commissioning.

These characteristics can be simply adapted into the key factors for creating a successful metering system – whether new, upgrading an old system or enabling meters that are already installed but doing nothing. These key factors need to be considered to deploy a successful metering solution: 1. Know what you want to achieve. Only you really know what is trying to be achieved, no matter how expert the solution provider, your clear guidance is crucial if you want to achieve your goals and see results.

‘Just fit me a metering solution’ or ‘just monitor the major loads’ is not a specification. It would be easy to deliver but very doubtful it will be what you need. As a minimum,

It is important that the metering equipment uses standard protocols and robust communications

Tim Hooper is managing director of Elcomponent Ltd

understand the main drivers you will use metering for: • tenant billing or cost allocation; • energy saving and project tracking; and • identification of saving opportunities.

2. Use the correct equipment.

This refers not only to the type of equipment but the quantity of it. Too many meters are just as bad as too few. Consider reusing existing meters (always reuse where possible). Don’t allow contractors to rip out and replace perfectly serviceable metering. Don’t buy a solution based on fancy software graphics, and don’t buy a solution based on over-specified meters – there is a middle ground that should satisfy most of the requirements.

It is important that the metering equipment uses standard protocols, robust communications and flexible data collection. This is because proprietary solutions lock you into a specific provider.

There is no guarantee that the provider will still be the best provider in ten years or they will still be in business. If your metering equipment uses standards, it can be used by alternative data collection devices. Data collection equipment that cannot send data to different platforms should be avoided.

3. Commission, commission, commission. This means full, end-to-end commissioning. Does the reading on the meter appear exactly in the software system?

Is the accumulation of energy appropriate for the equipment being monitored?

If you do not carry out detailed end-to-end commissioning – the chances of successful metering are very limited. If you are not prepared to commission correctly – do not fit metering.

4. Operate and maintain. Why would anyone think a metering system would last forever without oversight and routine or ad hoc maintenance? Granted, meters rarely fail and system data loggers are reliable. However, IT networks can be changed, parts get damaged, unplugged, batteries fail, radio links can fail or be disabled. In almost all cases, a change of gas supplier will result in the loss of any AMR connectivity. It is frustrating but it always happens. 

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ULTRAFLO U1000MKII-HM

Monitoring & Metering For further information on products and services visit www.eibi.co.uk/ enquiries and enter the appropriate online enquiry number

Monitoring allows vision of real-time data centre energy use Data centre performance specialist EkkoSense has launched Site Power View - to simplify capacity planning by using unique 3D power schematic visualisation to display data centre power usage in realtime.

Introduced to support the EkkoSoft Critical software’s real-time M&E capacity planning for data centre power, cooling and space requirements, Site Power View delivers a detailed analysis of UPS, DC and cooling power use both at an individual room level - as well as cumulatively across entire data centre estates.

“Site Power View directly addresses the requirement for real-time monitoring and planning of data centre power.

Using a distinctive 3D power schematic visualisation it provides both data centre IT and facilities management teams with immediate insight into rack power usage and associated PDU utilisation across their estate,” explained EkkoSense’s head of product management, Paul Milburn.

“With the new functionality our latest EkkoSoft Critical 6.0 release goes beyond

traditional reporting to offer true capacity planning at a fraction of the cost of more expensive and complex traditional DCIM and BMS solutions.”

“Previously data centre teams would have needed a combination of DCIM tools, outputs from their BMS, and multiple unwieldy spreadsheets to gain an understanding of power usage from a whole site perspective.” explained Milburn. “Site Power View in EkkoSoft Critical 6.0 dramatically simplifies this entire process, with comprehensive power overlays and immersive 3D visualisations that not only display power usage, but also clearly show how power is being distributed and used from room to room.”

Site Power View’s 3D visualisations enable the creation of a series of interactive reports covering power usage, power usage breakdowns and power capacity across the entire data centre estate.

Site power view monitors both rack power usage and associated power distribution unit (PDU) utilisation and indicates spare power capacity where available.

THE THERMAL, HEAT/ENERGY METERING SOLUTION FROM MICRONICS. SIMPLE, LOW COST, HOT OR CHILLED WATER ENERGY MEASUREMENT FROM OUTSIDE THE PIPE. A SMARTER SOLUTION THAN IN-LINE METERS!

NEW! Pipe range has been extended to 6" pipes.

The U1000MKII-HM is an ultrasonic clamp-on thermal, heat/energy meter that uses ultrasound to measure flow rate and PT100 temperature sensors to measure flow and return temperatures. The U1000MKII-HM displays energy rate and totalised energy with pulse output and communication options, so it can be used as a standalone meter or as an integral part of an aM&T or BEM’s system.

Simple to install – connect power and enter the pipe inside diameter, adjust the sensors and clamp-on the pipe – no specialist skills or tools required!

Suitable for: Steel, Plastic and Copper pipe, 25mm – 180mm OD

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Julian Grant is general manager of Chauvin Arnoux UK Ltd

For further information on Chauvin Arnoux UK Ltd visit www.eibi.co.uk/enquiries and enter ENQUIRY No. 131

Comfort through monitoring Maintaining a comfortable environment in a building and minimising energy consumption are conflicting challenges that can be overcome by metering and monitoring, says Julian Grant

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easuring and monitoring the performance of systems that have an effect on the environment in buildings and workplaces is a requirement of Part L of the Building Regulations. HVAC systems need to be commissioned in line with the design intent, which by necessity means evaluating their performance. And the Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations require all but the smallest air conditioning systems to be inspected at least every five years.

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 also need to be considered. While not explicitly requiring measurement and monitoring beyond specifying that thermometers must be provided, they do say that “during working hours, the temperature in all workplaces inside the building shall be reasonable.”

With so much regulation requiring the measurement and monitoring of environmental control systems, these tasks are often seen as thankless burdens of time and money, while delivering little in the way of tangible business benefits.

Thankfully, that is not the case.

There is an enormous amount of evidence to show that a good working environment boosts worker wellbeing, productivity, and efficiency.

For measuring and monitoring light levels a logging luxmeter will be required

The essential aspects to measure and monitor are light levels, temperature, air movement and humidity. But as well as confirming how well the environmental systems are performing, it is absolutely crucial to monitor how much energy they are using.

Before looking individually at each of the key aspects of environmental measurement and monitoring, what is the difference between them? The simple answer is that a measurement is a one-off event – “the temperature in the warehouse right now is 20ºC”, for example, whereas monitoring involves recording a series of measurements over a period of time.

This could be a few hours, days, or even months or years.

The benefit of monitoring, which is performed by instruments that have a logging function, is that it provides much more useful information than individual measurements. It might reveal, for example, that the office temperature is still above 20ºC in the middle of a winter night, when it could well be allowed to drop to, say 10ºC, which would save a lot of energy. Monitoring over extended periods will also allow seasonal effects to be detected and evaluated.

For measuring and monitoring light levels a logging luxmeter will be required. These instruments are typically small enough to be handheld, and the best will give accurate results with virtually any type of light source: daylight, LED, incandescent, fluorescent, etc. A good luxmeter will also provide a mapping function that allows the light levels over an area or room to be mapped to determine whether or not they are uniform.

More sophisticated instruments Temperature can be measured with a simple thermometer, but there are distinct advantages in using more sophisticated instruments. Not only because they are likely to be more accurate, but if they are able to log results, they will also allow monitoring to be carried out over extended periods. It is also possible to obtain temperature logging instruments with a combined anemometer or hygrometer, enabling simultaneous logging of temperature and airflow or humidity in a more cost effective package.

The logging of temperature over extended time periods is particularly useful as it can reveal when heating and cooling systems are being operated unnecessarily, when rooms are prone to overheating in sunny weather and when they cool too quickly in cold weather. These

findings point the way to simple and often inexpensive remedial measures.

Instruments for measuring light levels and temperatures need little justification, but what about anemometers and hygrometers? In reality, these are also easy to justify.

Apart from the Health and Safety at Work regulations requiring the provision of ventilation, prudent users of energy will want to be sure that this provision is met without wasting heat through draughts. An anemometer enables air movement to be identified and measured, which makes it easier to provide draughtfree ventilation.

A hygrometer measures humidity, which is important because excessive humidity can lead to sweating and discomfort, while insufficient humidity can lead to dry, sore eyes. For these reasons, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers recommends that humidity in the workplace should be maintained between 40 per cent and 70 per cent.

While measuring and monitoring the effectiveness of environment control systems is vital, so is measuring and monitoring the amount of energy they consume. For electrically powered systems, this is achieved with a portable energy logger (PEL). These are typically installed at the distribution board feeding the environmental control systems, and the best types have been designed so that installation can be completed quickly and easily without intrusion or disruption to the plant fed by the board.

Once in place, the PEL will record all major aspects of the energy supply, including not only the energy used and peak loading, but also other important parameters such as power factor, phase imbalance, harmonics, and much more. Maintaining a comfortable environment in the workplace is good for staff morale and productivity. And maintaining efficient operation of environmental control plant is good for the bottom line. 

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“ Energy in Buildings and Industry and the Energy Institute are delighted to have teamed up to bring you this Continuing Professional Development initiative �

MARK THROWER MANAGING EDITOR

SERIES 17 | MODULE 07 | COMPRESSED AIR

Saving the fourth utility Eric Harding, managing director, Air Technology Ltd

C

ompressed air, often known as the fourth utility, is used throughout industry and other sectors as a very convenient and popular means of transmitting energy from the incoming source to usage points for many applications and processes at several pressure levels. If the system is designed and correctly operated compressed air is safe but it can be very dangerous if improperly applied.

Recent developments from the compressed air industry such as improved compressor and drive motor efficiency, variable speed drives, electronic compressor control systems and on line condition monitoring, improved efficiency of air treatment systems, smooth bore piping and energy-efficient using devices have helped to make air systems more efficient and these give opportunities for energy and other cost of ownership savings that can provide good paybacks on capital expenditure.

As industries turned from manual labour to use of machinery compressed air was used and still is in mining, shipbuilding, automotive manufacturing and general industry and its use has grown into many other fields such as waste water treatment, pharmaceuticals, chemical processes, microelectronics and a plethora of other applications.

Many of the more recent applications demand very high levels of air purity all of which add to the cost of air generation.

Fig 1 The components of a typical industrial compressed air system.

Other reasons are ease of connecting into distribution networks, safety in hazardous areas and flexibility (see Table 1).

What is not always understood is that compressing is an extremely costly method of transmitting energy (see Fig 1). As an example, the energy cost to drive a pneumatic tool at 7 barg such as a drill is increased by a factor of 10 when compared with using an electrically driven drill.

This is due to the waste heat that is rejected by a compressor.

Compressors are only needed because the customer has a use for compressed air but as they are the beginning of the process it is logical to start with air generation.

There are several ways of expressing the efficiency of

compressors such volumetric, isentropic and polytrophic but the only important measure of efficiency is the power input versus the air output at the specified pressure this is known as the specific power consumption (SPC).

The SPC depends on the size and configuration of the machines.

At 7 barg it should be around 11 to 13kW/100m3/h with the compressor on full load.

It is important to know the off load and part load power consumptions as well as the full load as very few compressors will be running at full load.

There are many configurations of compressors based on the flow and pressure requirements such as reciprocating, vane, diaphragm,

Table 1 gives typical applications of compressed air from ultra-high vacuum to the highest used pressures.

Description

Pressure barg >-010 9

Applications

Ultra high vacuum Medium vacuum -10

-10

Glass blowing, dearation, dewatering and evacuation

Low pressure

Up to +4

Waste water treatment and product and powder conveying

Medium pressure

+7 to +10

General industry, handyman and dentistry

Medium to High pressure

+15

Aerosol filling

High pressure

+40

PET Bottle blowing

Ultra high pressure

+400

Specialist air bottle filling

Surface spectrometers, particle accelerators and other scientific applications

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SERIES 17 | MODULE 07 | COMPRESSED AIR

toothed rotor, scroll, roots blowers, rotary screw and centrifugal machines with lots of subsets around cooling, pressure and air quality requirements.

The most popular machines seen in the field are rotary screw and piston positive displacement machines and centrifugal flow dynamic machines.

The performance of positive displacement types can best be described with a pressure volume diagram as shown Fig 2. This type of machine inhales and compresses a fixed volume of air.

This would be for typical single stage piston or rotary screw machine.

Here it can be seen the air volume inhaled is compressed to the terminal pressure according to the equation PVn = C where n is the gas constant (for air this is around 1.39). As the air is compressed its volume decreases with the amount being delivered into the system being in relationship with the absolute compression ratio which in the case shown will be 1/8th.

Once the piston or open screw or vane flute completes its air delivery the compressed air left trapped within the machine has to re-expand until atmospheric pressure is reached at which time the machine can inhale more air.

The compressor can only deliver the amount of air that it inhales this is known as the free air delivered (FAD).

The volumetric efficiency is the FAD divided by the swept volume.

The most efficient theoretical compression cycle is isothermal during which the temperature is constant.

Compressor designers attempt

to approach isothermal by such methods as intercooling and oil or water injection.

When optimising air generation systems engineers should ensure that compressor intake air and cooling stream temperatures are as low as possible, suction filter pressure drop is minimised and the delivery pressure is set as low as possible to keep the compression ratio down and reduce the work being done.

Compressors are normally sized with some spare capacity to allow for peak demands so pressure drops are avoided and some growth for the future. This means that efficient control is important both of individual and groups of machines.

The most popular method of individual control of fixed speed machines can be by inlet valve opening when air is required or shut when there is no air demand known as two-step or all on-line off line control. Inlet valves can also be modulated over the higher ranges of demand from around 60 to 100 per cent. Inlet valve operation is controlled by the system air pressure that when rising to its top limit the machine will unload and when the pressure falls to its pre-set low limit the machine will load.

Two step control of fixed speed machines is the most frequently seen. Long periods of no-load running should be avoided as the power consumption will be around 20 to 25 per cent of the full load power.

Variable speed drive is available for positive displacement machines this can be more efficient than two step or modulation control as long

Fig. 2 Pressure volume of positive displacement compresssors

Fig. 3 The ranges of flow and pressure covered by the different configurations available

as the machine is correctly sized and does not run for long periods above 80 per cent of capacity where invertor and other losses make the machine less efficient.

The most common form of dynamic machine found in industry is the centrifugal flow machine. This type of machine inhales a volume of air at the atmospheric conditions prevailing then accelerates it in high speed impellors thus imparting kinetic energy that is transformed into pressure energy by reducing the air speed in the diffusers.

These machines can be controlled efficiently by inlet valve, inlet guide and diffuser guide vanes over the stable operating range before natural surge pressure becomes close to the design pressure.

Group control systems should always be aimed at ensuring that the most efficient machines in the installation are on line at all times at the minimum sensible generation pressure.

Electronic panels are available that the right mix of machines is on line at any one time. Correct sizing will avoid control gaps that can occur when running a fixed and variable speed control machine together.

To arrive at the best machine for a given duty the configuration must be established.

Issues to consider are: • the air demand pattern over a typical process period; • the air pressure required; • the air quality required in terms of pressure dewpoint, hydrocarbon and particulate content and any special requirements such as silica free; • maintenance requirements; and • standby capacity needed.

Given this information a detailed specification should be written from which qualified vendors can produce proposals and detailed bid analysis can be undertaken. This work will result in ensuring that the machinery chosen may not have the lowest cost but will have the best life cycle costs for the duty.

Fig. 3 shows the ranges of flow and pressure covered by the different configurations available.

Following generation, the air is treated to the standard required by the end-using process by a variety of methods. The quality of the air used ranges from quite low for tools to extremely high for microelectronics paint finishing, food and pharmaceuticals where the air can be in contact with the product.

When the air leaves the final stage of the compressor at terminal pressure it is hot and fully saturated with water that has been inhaled from the atmosphere. As the air is cooled water condenses and if there is no treatment it will arrive at the usage points.

This cannot be tolerated and treatment to remove the water following air compression is required.

The first stage of treatment is the aftercooler that can be air or water cooled. This will reduce the air temperature from over 100°C to within 10° of the cooling medium's temperature and will remove around 80 per cent of the water. This is good enough for some end users but for some further treatment will be required.

There is usually a wet air receiver sized correctly for the delivered volume of the installed compressor capacity. This removes some of the entrained moisture and helps smooth out any pulsations.

There are many types of air dryer.

Selection of the correct dryer for the duty will depend on the required pressure dewpoint for the process.

Condensate removal from the aftercoolers, air receivers, filters, dryers and other drainage points should be by use of automatic drains the best type being of the zero-loss electronic configuration.

Other contaminations found in compressed air are oil and particles.

The most popular general purpose compressors are usually lubricated screw or piston machines that have oil in the compression chambers.

For details on how to obtain your Energy Institute CPD Certificate, see entry form and details on page 24 22 | ENERGY IN BUILDINGS & INDUSTRY | JANUARY 2020

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SERIES 17 | MODULE 07 | COMPRESSED AIR

Some hydrocarbons are present in the atmosphere in industrial areas and these are inhaled and concentrated by the compressors.

For specialist end users, such as pharmaceutical plants, microelectronic manufacturers, food and beverage plants and motor vehicle paint shops oil free compressors are normally specified.

Oil can be removed from the compressed air by filters sometimes in several stages to arrive at the quality required. Odours from air that is used for breathing can be removed by carbon towers. Particles come from compressor wearing parts and from pipework. Filtration is employed to remove particulate.

For specialist duties the air system pipework is manufactured from welded polished bore stainless steel or copper to prevent particles.

The ISO8573.1 compressed air quality standard should be used when specifying air quality for the above contaminants. This will ensure that the correct levels of treatment are applied for the duties the air is to be used on saving both capital and energy costs.

Another contamination that occurs in compressed air systems is microbial this must be avoided in pharmaceutical manufacturing and some beverages and food products for domestic use where shelf life can be reduced by microbes that live in the compressed air systems.

Treatment is by the use of steam sterilised filters and use of desiccant dryers as microbes cannot breed in air at pressure dewpoints below -30°C.

Distribution networks Following treatment there is often a dry air receiver then air is fed to the usage points by distribution networks. These should be sized with a maximum flowing velocity of 6m per second with the full output of the compressor station on line to avoid pressure losses. Ring mains are preferred to spur mains and local air receivers can be beneficial close to points of high demand.

Because compressed air is expensive its use should be carefully considered. It may be possible to use an electric tool rather than an air tool, or a centralised vacuum system rather than local vacuum ejectors on a production machine.

Once it is established compressed

air is to be used then the correct pressure for the duty should be applied. To avoid overpressure local regulators can be employed. When there is no production on a line, in a department or a factory the air should be turned off to avoid waste.

Any essential users can be supplied by small compressors.

Leakage is one of the main sources of waste in air systems and can often be easily rectified. The optimum leakage rate should be less than 5 per cent of the mean production air demand. This figure can usually be arrived at by taking timings of the loaded and off loaded times or by speeds of variable drive units or by flow metering during and in and out of production times.

There are several methods of leak detection such as by ear and soap and water solutions but the most effective method is by use of a good quality ultrasonic leak detector.

Leaks that occur in the hard piping before any system regulators will vary in air loss according the absolute system pressure ratio as the pressure rises and falls with compressors loading and unloading.

This is known as artificial or unregulated demand. The leakage loss downstream of regulation is a constant amount.

The heat rejected by air and water cooled compressors in their cooling streams can be recovered and used if a suitable application can be found.

The compressed air and using equipment supply industries are becoming much more aware of the energy costs associated with the service. With compressors the drive efficiencies have been improved by use of permanent magnet motors mounted directly on the compressor drive shaft. These have very high electrical efficiencies eliminating the coupling or belts reduces the drive losses. This type of motor can be controlled by an invertor to provide variable speed drive. It is possible to purchase twin element oil free screw compressors with LP & HP air ends individually driven by its own permanent magnet motor thus eliminating the need for a gear box and oil that enables the machine to have very good efficiency over a wide range of flows.

Latest designs of centrifugal flow dynamic machines include permanent magnet motors with the

Fig. 4 One of the latest compressor designs

high-speed pinions directly driven.

The pinions can be supported on magnetic or air foil bearings again meaning that no gear box and lubricating oil is required saving energy and maintenance. Fig. 4 shows one of the latest compressor designs that is used in waste water treatment plants.

Desiccant dryers Energy-saving developments in air treatment systems include desiccant dryers using waste heat of compression to regenerate the towers, dewpoint sensing control and low pressure loss dryer and filtration systems.

At the point of use there are several air-saving devices such as multi-stage vacuum generators and nozzles that can be employed.

Making sure that all the components of a compressed air system are properly maintained is most important from the energy efficiency and reliability standpoint.

It is recommended that the original equipment manufacturer or their accredited agent are used to undertake all service work and that it is conducted within the recommended hours run. It is a false economy to run machinery for longer than the recommended intervals this can apparently save money but the additional energy costs far outweigh and advantages.

Optimising compressed air systems can enable excellent energy savings of around 30 per cent over the original generation cost to be achieved some at little or no cost.

Achievable savings can be generalised with the first low cost 10 per cent coming from reducing leakage, wastage and generation pressure and condensate trap losses, the next medium cost 10

per cent that should provide a return on investment within one year from improving distribution networks, compressor control and air treatment and improved maintenance with the final higher cost 10 per cent coming from new compressors, variable speed drives, new efficient air treatment systems and point of use improvements where ROI can be much longer unless savings in maintenance costs are also taken into account.

Energy savings areas are air generation, air treatment, distribution networks, use and misuse, leakage and waste heat recovery. Each of these is discussed in detail below: With air generation the minimum pressure that is required at the usage points should be established then the potential saving by reducing the air generation pressure can be calculated based on a cost reduction of 6 per cent per bar of pressure reduction. To enable pressure reduction restrictions in the air system should be identified and eliminated.

With the air system on full load the pressure loss across the air treatment system should not exceed 0.5 bar and from the exit of the treatment system to the far end of the distribution system the loss should not be greater than 0.2bar.

Control systems that ensure only the minimum number of machines to meet the duty are on line. Variable speed driven machines can be very beneficial but should not be run for extended periods at over 80 per cent capacity due to invertor losses.

Control systems should always be programmed to ensure that variable speed machines are always used as the control unit when there is a mix of variable and fixed speed units.

Fixed speed machines should always be used as base load units.

Treatment should be to the minimum standard required as an example air at a pressure dewpoint of +3°C is perfectly suitable for most factories but there may be a small use of high quality air at -40°C for instrumentation that should be treated by a local dryer to save energy costs.

All desiccant dryers should be fitted with dewpoint sensing controls that will avoid over regeneration of the towers.

For details on how to obtain your Energy Institute CPD Certificate, see entry form and details on page 24 JANUARY 2020 | ENERGY IN BUILDINGS & INDUSTRY | 23

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SERIES 17 | MODULE 07 | JANUARY 2020

ENTRY FORM COMPRESSED AIR Please mark your answers below by placing a cross in the box. Don't forget that some questions might have more than one correct answer. You may find it helpful to mark the answers in pencil first before filling in the final answers in ink. Once you have completed the answer sheet, return it to the address below. Photocopies are acceptable.

QUESTIONS 1. Approximately what percentage of industry’s electricity bill is spent on generating compressed air?

■ 10% ■ 15% ■ 20% ■ 25% 2. Why does compressed air at 7 barg used for an air tool cost 10 times more than the electricity used for an equivalent electric tool?

■ Because the air is supplied through a hose of too small a diameter ■ Because the air tool bearings are too stiff ■ Because the compressor rejects over 90% of the input energy ■ Because the air is on all the time 3. What is the best method of determining compressor full load and part load efficiency?

■ Its power consumption ■ The temperature of the cooling medium ■ Its specific power consumption ■ The unloaded power consumption 4. What is the typical off load power for a screw compressor running load/ no load?

■ 25% ■ 65% ■ 10% ■ 80% 5. What is the difference between positive displacement and dynamic machines?

■ The dynamic machine runs at a higher speed than the positive

displacement machine.

■ The positive displacement machine inhales a fixed volume then pressurises it to terminal pressure whereas the dynamic machine imparts kinetic energy on the inlet air stream.

■ The dynamic machine is only available for oil free duties ■ All of the above 6. What contaminants can occur in compressed air?

■ Oil ■ Water

How to obtain a CPD accreditation from the Energy Institute Energy in Buildings and Industry and the Energy Institute are delighted to have teamed up to bring you this Continuing Professional Development initiative.

This is the seventh module in the seventeenth series and focuses on Compressed Air. It is accompanied by a set of multiple-choice questions.

To qualify for a CPD certificate readers must submit at least eight of the ten sets of questions from this series of modules to EiBI for the Energy Institute to mark. Anyone achieving at least eight out of ten correct answers on eight separate articles qualifies for an Energy Institute CPD certificate. This can be obtained, on successful completion of the course and notification by the Energy Institute, free of charge for both Energy Institute members and non-members.

The articles, written by a qualified member of the Energy Institute, will appeal to those new to energy management and those with more experience of the subject.

Modules from the past 16 series can be obtained free of charge. Send your request to editor@eibi.co.uk. Alternatively, they can be downloaded from the EiBI website: www.eibi.co.uk

■ Particulate ■ All of the above 7. To avoid pressure losses what should the flowing velocity in air mains be?

■ 6 m/s ■ 10 m/s ■ 2 m/s

■ 30 m/s

8. How would you use waste heat from a compressor?

■ For space heating of a factory ■ To heat domestic hot water ■ To preheat boiler feed water ■ All of the above 9. How much can the energy cost for generating 7 barg air be reduced if the pressure is lowered by 0.5 bar?

■ 3% ■ 6% ■ 2% ■ 11% 10 What is the best method of making a desiccant dryer efficient?

■ Change the desiccant ■ Bypass the dryer ■ Fit dewpoint sensing control ■ Buy a new dryer

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SERIES 16

SERIES 17

MAY 2018 - APR 2019

MAY 2019 - APR 2020

1 BEMS 2 Refrigeration 3 LED Technology 4 District Heating 5 Air Conditioning 6 Behaviour Change 7 Thermal Imaging 8 Solar Thermal 9 Smart Buildings 10 Biomass Boilers

1 Batteries & Storage 2 Energy as a Service 3 Water Management 4 Demand Side Response 5 Drives & Motors 6 Blockchain Technology 7 Compressed Air 8 Energy Purchasing* 9 Space Heating* 10 Data Centre Management*

* ONLY available to download from the website after publication date

Terms: in submitting your completed answers you are indicating consent to EiBI’s holding and processing the personal data you have provided to us, in accordance with legal bases set out under data protection law. Further to this, EiBI will share your details with the Energy Institute (EI) with whom this CPD series is run in contractual partnership. The EI will process your details for the purposes of marking your answers and issuing your CPD certificate. Your details will be kept securely at all times and in a manner complaint with all relevant data protection laws. For full details on the EI’s privacy policy please visit www.energyinst.org/privacy.

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Completed answers should be mailed to: The Education Department, Energy in Buildings & Industry, P.O. Box 825, GUILDFORD, GU4 8WQ. Or scan and e-mail to editor@eibi.co.uk. All modules will then be supplied to the Energy Institute for marking

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VIEW FROM THE TOP

Daniel Connell is energy markets analyst, ZTP

Time to ditch the dinosaur Daniel Connell believes that a lack of innovation is costing time and money as well as contributing to a stagnation of the energy trading markets. Change is long overdue

T

he mere use of the word revolution itself is often perceived as being a revolutionary act. It is the signifier of the upstart who wants to shake things up. For many, the very word can be the instigator of annoyance rather than inspiration. So why start with it?

Energy trading and the twenty-first century. These things are intertwined, necessarily and, in some ways, obviously.

Yet here the question is posited: are they intertwined enough? Are we in a scenario where energy trading is linked enough to common stocks-and-shares trading; where energy trading is fit for purpose in the not-so-nascent twenty-first century? In a word, no.

If you were inclined to begin trading stocks and shares today and had the means to do so, you could register with a broker online in minutes and have funds cleared into your account in days. Not only this, but your trading mechanisms would be entirely virtual if desired: you click a button to execute a trade, and within moments the execution of said trade is relayed to you. This is an old revolution, unbuttoning the murky world of Wall Street trading and hedge funds so the wider world can participate. Such open access has brought with it many innovations too: take the trailing stop, for example. Once an impractical tool that was onerous for the broker, technology has simplified it to a straightforward algorithm. If I want to sell my stock at £50, say, but know that if it breaks through it could run and run, the answer would be simple: Trailing stop of £50, trailing the price by £0.25. Such a move ensures I get a minimum of £50 (or close enough to at execution – markets are still markets, remember!) but I can see how the market goes without having to be glued to the screen. It’s not a guarantee of maximising a trade by any means, but it’s a simple tool to squeeze a little bit more out of the market for minimal effort for all parties concerned.

Imagine my surprise, then, that there isn’t just a lack of easily available trailing stop functionality within UK energy

Connell: 'where we can effect change is in the rapid digitalisation of energy trading'

markets, but little awareness of what it is! This raises a very interesting (or concerning, depending on your take) question about the sophistication of UK energy markets as a trading environment. Within the industry there is still a large reliance on ‘phone or email instruction for trade execution. Many suppliers offer a price and little more (in stock trading, for example, with Level 2 access you can see the Bids and Asks in real time: this gives you real insight into how active the market is and potentially deeper understanding of patterns of movement). The process of requesting prices and receiving confirmation of locked-in rates can take a very long period of time. This is wrong.

Lack of innovation is costing everyone time and money Less information and less automation disempowers the end user.

This isn’t to say if these things were fixed, energy users would profit: most stock traders lose money (there is, and always will be, a difference between access to the market and understanding of the market). The point is that really, the lack of innovation on this side is costing everyone time and money, as well as stagnating the markets.

Liquidity, volatility and churn are all clear issues within energy trading. Presently, although the UK enjoys a mature market – not to the level of TTF or Henry Hub, but still – the churn rate simply plays into the hands of those who would happily maintain the status quo. The trouble is, this is a chicken-and-egg argument: is churn still low because trading mechanisms are antiquated, or are those structures outdated because liquidity isn’t high enough?

If the principle behind keeping things as they are is down to waiting for churn to increase, the industry faces a massive uphill

battle: stockbrokers worked exceptionally fast in the late ‘90s to develop online portals and tools to enable trading worldwide and in any setting. They saw that, alongside increased commissions, the liquidity of margin flowing into their accounts held massive potential. Online stock trading is far more popular now than it was then, but the brokers had already built systems – this is why they are more sophisticated now; the revolution was nearly twenty-five years ago!

Naturally, market forces will be the driver of change – so don’t expect trailing stops as common practice within energy in the immediate future (at least as a default offering). But where we can affect change is the rapid digitalisation of energy trading, with increased transparency of market data and faster turnaround times. It would be no surprise at all to see churn increase considerably if every supplier and TPI had a portal, and these portals contained useful information pertinent to trading energy.

More churn creates more opportunity and, paradoxically, more security: exiting a position becomes far easier when there are more buyers in the market.  JANUARY 2020 | ENERGY IN BUILDINGS & INDUSTRY | 25

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Products In Action For further information on products and services visit www.eibi.co.uk/enquiries and enter the appropriate online enquiry number

Fan coil units fit the bill at dental school Dunham-Bush Panther fan coil units have been installed at the Glasgow Dental School. Fitted in the Restorative Clinic at level 6 of the building by contractors, James Frew, the units were selected for their quiet operation, energy efficiency and easy access for on-going maintenance.

Formed in 1879 and located adjacent to the Glasgow Dental Education Centre, the school began issuing Bachelor of Dental Surgery Degrees from the University of Glasgow in 1948. The Glasgow Dental Education Centre provides post-graduate and distance dental education.

Dunham-Bush fan coil units are high performance units providing comfort cooling and heating. Air volume, low noise and budget constraints are all catered for by the comprehensive range of models with typical applications, including office buildings, hotels, restaurants and department stores.

The Panther range has been extended and improved with all models now featuring EC external rotor motor or twin shaft motors. A comprehensive range of inlet and discharge acoustic attenuators is available for applications where noise is a critical feature of the building design. They are available in a range of standard and specially engineered configurations ONLINE ENQUIRY 101 to suit the most demanding of applications.

German brewery upgrades compressed air One of the oldest breweries in the world, Einbecker Brewery, has upgraded its existing compressed air units to the Ultima technology from compressor manufacturer CompAir, predicting to cut energy costs at the facility by up to 25 per cent.

Based in Einbeck, Germany, the brewery dates back to the 14th century, with the oldest available receipt for the sale of Einbecker beer from 1378. Compressed air is used in the production processes involved in the brewing and bottling of the brand’s renowned bock beers and speciality lagers.

While the site is historic, the company is always looking to invest in new technology, including its existing compressed air system, which was more than 20 years old and consisted of four oil-free, fixed speed compressors.

With only limited on-site space available, the Einbecker Brewery required a compact new solution that could provide reliable and energy-efficient compressed air, while also meeting the stringent air quality requirements demanded by the site’s operations.

In order to meet these demands, CompAir has supplied two new 110kW Ultima compressors to the site.

Dr David Bruchof, product manager – industrial compressors EMEA at CompAir, explains: “Ultima features two highly efficient, permanent magnetic motors that replace the traditional gearbox set-up. These variable-speed motors can achieve speeds of up to 22,000 RPM and efficiencies greater than IE4.”

Due to these improved efficiency levels, only two Ultima units were required to meet the Einbecker Brewery’s energy demands, in place of the four compressors that were previously installed. This ensured the site had less compressors to manage, meaning the Einbecker Brewery could realise the ONLINE ENQUIRY 102 associated cost reductions that come with this, too.

Air management system will optimise environmental performance at research facility A dedicated laboratory air management system, supplied by TROX, has been installed to optimise safety and environmental performance in a major new clinical and research facility. The TROX EASYLAB system, incorporating TROX VAV controllers, specialist filters, grilles and diffusers, will assist Norfolk-based Quadram Institute to meet the stringent requirements for its world-class research.

The new Quadram Institute building, based at the Norwich Research Park, brings together the former Institute of Food Research, the University of East Anglia Clinical Research Facility and the gastrointestinal endoscopy unit of Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital to conduct ground-breaking translational research and clinical care.

To meet the complex and critical air management demands of the project, BuroHappold Engineering and

eibi.co.uk/enquiries Enter 11

SES Engineering Services worked in close co-operation with TROX UK to design and install the air management systems for the new site.

TROX analysed the air terminal device requirements of different zones in the building during the design phase, to determine the best possible designs of grilles and diffusers to maintain the optimum safe and comfortable working environment for researchers, staff and patients.

The resulting TROX EASYLAB room air management system installed in the new facility ensures that supply and extraction of air is optimised automatically in each laboratory to maintain safe working environments. In addition, TROX Variable Air Volume (VAV) controllers ensure that the energy efficiency of the building’s central air conditioning and cooling system is also optimised for best-in-class environmental performance across the site as a whole.

ONLINE ENQUIRY 103

Heat Pumps

Steve Keeton is technologies and training director at Vaillant

For further information on Vaillant visit www.eibi.co.uk/enquiries and enter ENQUIRY No. 132

Plug and play heating Steve Keeton looks at a project in Solihull which demonstrates how ground source heat pumps can provide a flexible, sustainable and effective heating solution, drastically reducing home energy bills

T

he energy challenge touches many aspects of the UK’s domestic and commercial properties, not least how best to responsibly heat the buildings of the future. This topic is under intense scrutiny as political leaders, regulators and product manufacturers focus on developing measurable and practical solutions that can deliver affordable carbonfree heating.

Ultimately, the country is committed to achieving ‘net zero’ greenhouse gases by 2050, and renewable technologies are a non-negotiable part of the future energy mix. In view of this, the further we move from our historical reliance on fossil fuels, the more the direction of travel becomes clear. The ready use of alternative solutions, especially those which are both efficient and renewable, to provide our heating and hot water is becoming a reality.

For energy managers, the decarbonisation of heat is a big issue. When it comes to choosing a renewable technology, the solution has to tick a number of boxes, not least safety, sustainability and – especially in the case of social housing – lifetime affordability.

Ground source heat pumps are one of a number of increasingly popular greener solutions that will help the country as it embarks on this journey. This innovative technology, which makes use of an existing natural energy source stored in the ground beneath us, is already starting to make inroads in terms of consumer acceptance, tangible energy-saving performance and cost effectiveness. A recent ground-breaking social housing heating refurbishment project in a Midlands conservation area aptly demonstrates how.

Twenty-four social housing flats located within a conservation area in Solihull required a new and more efficient heating specification to replace an ageing and increasingly

Ground source heat pumps are delivering energy cost savings to tenants in Solihull

problematic storage heating system.

Working with the social housing provider, Vaillant devised an innovative and sustainable project solution that would prepare the heating system for evolving efficiency requirements and deliver energy cost savings to the tenants in each of the flats.

Overall, the 24 properties on New Road required a total of 114kW of energy. In order for this requirement to have an adequate heat resource, the three ground source heat pumps were installed to utilise the natural heat energy that could be extracted from the ground via 23 boreholes that were approximately 120m deep.

Offsite manufacturing To overcome the potential issues of siting in a conservation area, and to oversee the overall system, an energy centre which could heat all of the properties was created and is now installed within a nearby and suitably furnished shipping container. Using this type of container enabled offsite manufacturing of the plant room and reduced the potential for disruption to local residents. The plug and play method the energy centre offers was the perfect option

for New Road allowing for speedy project installation.

Two 1,000 litre buffer cylinders in the energy centre are linked to a heating distribution network which provides each flat with a weather compensated heating supply courtesy of low surface temperature (LST) radiators. For billing purposes, heat generator meters are also integrated within the energy centre’s controls to measure individual property energy consumption and also provide accurate data for tenant billing.

The custom controls created allow the social housing providers to enjoy full remote access of data and performance. This assists with planning future maintenance works and helps with billing accuracy and transparency.

By installing the centralised system, the social housing provider will see many benefits.

It will now only need to service and maintain the easily accessible energy centre as opposed to servicing each product in every apartment, thereby optimising resources. It has dramatically improved the SAP rating of the property portfolio whilst also reducing carbon emissions, as the ground source heat pumps are zero emission at point

of use. What’s more, through the installation of the pumps within the new energy centre, it will be able to reap the benefits of commercial Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) over the next 20 years.

The new energy centre at New Road with the heat pumps at its centre is now allowing residents to have more control over their heating as they use individual programmers to time their heating programs, something that couldn’t be achieved when using their old storage heaters. The residents are also seeing a huge saving in their energy bills with projections of over 50 per cent reduction in bills.

This ingenious, sustainable and energy efficient solution has enabled ground source heat pump technology to be installed quickly and efficiently; a renewable scheme that benefits both the social housing provider in question and the tenants at New Road by future proofing their collective energy needs.

In order to meet decarbonisation targets, it is vital that heat is considered as a priority area.

When it comes to domestic, or light commercial, applications, ground source heat pumps can be a beneficial solution for all parties involved. 

JANUARY 2020 | ENERGY IN BUILDINGS & INDUSTRY | 27

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Heat Pumps

Steve Addis is product manager at Lochinvar

For further information on Lochinvar visit www.eibi.co.uk/enquiries and enter ENQUIRY No. 133

The age of the heat pump The rapid decarbonisation of UK electricity generation and growing political support mean the era of the heat pump has arrived, says Steve Addis

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he UK has made impressive progress in decarbonising our electricity grid in the last five years. The carbon factor of grid electricity was 495g of CO2 for each kWh of electricity generated in 2014, but it had dropped to below 200g by 2018. The department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) now predicts it will be just 66g by 2035 as more and more renewable sources come on stream.

Nearly half of the energy we consume in the UK is used to produce heat, but currently we meet less than 5 per cent of this demand with renewables. The government has already ruled out the use of gasfired heating in new homes from 2025 as part of a wider strategy to reduce carbon emissions, and the case for using heat pumps in new build projects has been strong for some time.

However, the bigger challenge is how to tackle growing carbon emissions from existing buildings – particularly now that the UK is legally bound to a net zero carbon target by 2050.

Speaking at the recent CIBSE Build2Perform exhibition and conference, Baroness Brown of Cambridge suggested ‘hybrid’ heat pumps could crack the crucial problem of how to improve the carbon footprint of the country’s 29m existing homes.

As vice chair of the Committee for Climate Change (CCC), the views of this distinguished engineer are increasingly influential in Whitehall’s corridors of power.

She advised the government that the decarbonisation of domestic heating could be dramatically speeded up by combining heat pumps with high efficiency gas-fired technologies.

This would avoid attempting an expensive – and technically challenging – exercise of retrofitting homes to fully renewable heat.

Instead, a heat pump could deliver

Combining heat pumps with highefficiency gas-fired technologies could help to reduce carbon emissions

the base heating load with a gasfired boiler available to top up heating and hot water during peak demand periods.

Technical challenge The technical challenge in commercial buildings is often very different to residential. In the case of hot water, for example, many commercial buildings experience short peak demand periods when very high volumes of hot water are required – leisure centres and hotels being particular examples.

However, the same hybrid principle proposed by Baroness Brown for homes could also be widely applied in commercial buildings. In fact, it probably has much greater potential because the scope for reducing running costs and cutting carbon is on a larger scale.

Integrated/hybrid solutions such as Lochinvar’s Amicus range, are clearly proving popular with specifiers and end users because they are an excellent way to meet performance targets at a lower capital cost than going for a totally renewable option. They deliver a faster return on investment for commercial building owners, which means they are more likely to be taken up on a greater scale and, therefore, will deliver more energy and carbon reductions in

the long-term.

Hybrids also reduce running costs and extend the operating life of the equipment by only using the gas-fired products in back-up mode. This is another key to reducing carbon. If you have to replace products on a regular basis, you will increase your overall carbon footprint significantly.

Heat pumps work particularly well if they are integrated with a condensing boiler to provide low temperature hot water for underfloor heating or low temperature radiators and the use of weather compensation control in the heating mode will

also significantly enhance system efficiency.

This ability to provide a hybrid solution including heat pumps, high efficiency gas-fired boilers and direct gas-fired water heaters has also strengthened the case for heat pumps in retrofit projects. Hybrid installations avoid the potentially disruptive and costly process of replacing other system components.

Heat pumps can also be installed as part of multi-valent systems where energy is gathered from a number of separate sources which can include other renewable technologies such as solar thermal along with high efficiency condensing gas-fired boilers and/or water heaters.

In such a system, the use of a properly sized thermal store becomes the critical element. The use of a thermal store/buffer vessel capable of accepting multiple energy sources, in tandem with the latest heat pump technology, allows the design engineer to provide an extremely flexible, but high output solution.

The thermal store, effectively, acts as a large, low resistance header that can accept heat from multiple sources. This smooths out the system capacity to maximise efficiency. It also prevents legionella risk because it does not store domestic hot water.

Integrating technologies in this way requires good control strategies and a thorough commissioning process to ensure the various parts of the system work in correct sequence. The system should be set up to ensure the renewable technologies are the first to respond to any call for heating and hot water; with gas-fired boilers only there to provide back-up.

The Lochinvar initiative has proved just how much growth potential there is for heat pumps in the commercial building sector. The key is providing a range of solutions and capacities married to flexible design options able to meet end user requirements. 

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Heat Pumps For further information on Green Thermal Energy visit www.eibi.co.uk/enquiries and enter ENQUIRY No. 134

Garry Broadbent is a director of Green Thermal Energy

More than a simple solution There is now a high-temperature heat pump that is capable of providing production cooling along with a 70oC hot water output. Garry Broadbent details its benefits

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he climate change debate and the obvious need to reduce energy use mean that heat pumps on a commercial and industrial basis are becoming increasingly relevant.

However, the application of heat pumps on a wider retrofit basis, to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions for existing buildings and processes, can be restricted due to the ‘lower than a boiler’ output temperatures of conventional heat pumps.

In order to overcome this application restriction hightemperature heat pumps are now available that can provide an answer to this temperature-based problem on both retrofit and new installations. With output temperature capability of over 80°C this next generation of air or ground/water-source heat pumps can provide an energy and carbon saving solution for both commercial and industrial retrofit or new build applications.

Applications now include oil or LPG Boiler replacement, district heating schemes, hot water generation and realistically any industrial or commercial heating/hot water application where energy cost savings and carbon savings are required.

There is now an increasing demand for higher-temperature systems for both heating and hot water production. The decreasing carbon content of grid electricity is favourable to heat pumps meaning that on a carbon-saving basis a heat pump now stands up extremely well against fossil fuels.

It is also very interesting that heat pumps also provide cooling which means that these systems can now be considered within retrofit energy-saving projects.

A high-temperature heat pump can now provide production cooling along with hot water output

A site that utilises cooling for process or air conditioning usually sends the valuable zerocarbon heat generated by the cooling process to atmosphere as waste. However, there is now a high-temperature heat pump that is capable of providing production cooling along with a 70oC hot water output.

Lower level of energy Green Thermal Energy is now designing systems where the chiller/heat pump is providing cooling by operating alongside existing chillers, consuming a lower level of energy than the existing plant, and importantly also providing high temperature heat for hot water production.

For example, a dual output 100kW heat pump/cooling unit can also deliver, free and zero carbon, 130kW of hot water.

This means that significant savings can be achieved with an attractive payback period on the retrofit investment by displacing the energy consumed by conventional fossil fuel heat sources.

This retrofit opportunity is applicable to any application where a site has a duplicated demand for both cooling and hot

‘To target energysaving applications on a retrofit basis appears to be a logical step’

water production. Therefore, it is now practical to generate valuable low-carbon, high-grade hot water as a by-product of cooling.

In this example of heat pump application the energy to deliver cooling is providing two outputs, cooling and hot water, rather than simply providing cooling only. This certainly puts a different slant with regard to the potential for heat pump application i.e. 1 x cooling input energy = 2 x outputs: cooling + hot water.

It is clear that heat pumps as an alternative form of heating and hot water production are well proven and practical to both apply and use. An increasing focus on heat pumps as the most efficient form of electric heat source means that the use of this form of renewable technology will only increase as the scope of applications becomes wider.

Therefore, to target energysaving applications on a retrofit basis appears to be a logical step where efficient high-temperature heat pumps are available. If gaining free high-grade heat from an existing cooling system is an option then it provides a practical method of delivering energy costs savings without the need to rely on external subsidies or grants.

However, for heating and hot water only applications this next generation range of high-temperature heat pumps certainly appears to be able to deliver much more scope for application than first generation lower temperature output units.

It appears that we are now seeing heat pumps moving forward into the next stage of development within both commercial and industrial applications. 

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ESTA VIEWPOINT

For further information on ESTA visit www.estaenergy.org.uk

Getting the balance right For the energy sector the next decade is going to be around finding a balance between technology and non-technology issues and the need to deliver a measured approach to meeting the 2050 target

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he oddities of writing for journals is that I am writing this column in one decade for it to be read in the next one. Did I get the balance of life right in the last ten years? Not if you believe my wife who still thinks that my work life balance is scoring at around 80/20. I would love to disagree with her, but as the challenges have continued to pile up in recent years, I seem to be working harder now than I did in the first 35 years of my career.

So why a focus on balance for this column? I went to an event recently which for me highlighted the lack of balance in the current UK approach to meeting the net carbon zero target by 2050.

Early focus on electricity All the early focus has been on electricity with gas and the decarbonisation of home heating systems being somewhat left behind.

For the main reason of tackling the lowhanging fruit first, current Government policy seems to be very unbalanced.

In addition to the balance needed in terms of action there is also the obvious need for balance between the different needs and requirements of society – business, individuals, and the public sector. Whatever your view on the politics of it all, the balance in politics certainly seems to have not been in evidence recently. Going forward, the Government now must get the balance right in terms of its regional policies, balancing the need to look after its new constituencies in the north with the overall UK requirements for infrastructure investment.

And then there is the balance in the UK energy retail market between the consumer need for competition and the reality of the need to deliver services in what is a very tough market to operate in. As has been proved with the failures of some of the new market entrants

it is of little use to try and artificially change the balance of competition in a market if insufficient due diligence has been done on the operating model of the new entrants to ensure long-term sustainability.

All that has happened in 2019 is that so many consumers have been treated like contestants in a game of ‘pass the parcel’ being reallocated to other suppliers. As an accountant, I despair of the apparent failure of so many financial due diligence processes in 2019 and not of course just in the energy market.

From the perspective of ESTA, there is the balance in what a trade association does. The ESTA members carry out a wide range of services covering both technology and non-technology solutions. Members will be aware that since I joined ESTA there has been a lot of focus at our events on the behaviour change programme we launched in 2018. Some members have criticised this on the grounds that the AI solutions being developed by members will one day mean that human intervention will be very limited. The first member who contacted me about this suggested that as humans won’t

ultimately be needed, neither will behaviour change programmes. In many ways that approach totally depressed me. I certainly hope that the day that the robots rule, or at least until they learn how to programme themselves will not happen for a long time ahead.

Mervyn Pilley is executive director of ESTA (Energy Services and Technology Association)

Next big technology solution At the other end of the scale the Prime Minister announced before the election that £1.2bn was going to be spent with scientists to find the next big technology solution. A balanced view could argue why not spend that money now on existing solutions including behaviour change.

We will be addressing this balance issue going forward ensuring that technology is not forgotten. We will be exploring a range of new energy efficiency solutions in 2020 through our events and are also widening out our relationships to embrace the ‘bigger picture’ of energy efficiency solutions.

So, my personal work/life balance is unlikely to improve in the next decade, but I am certainly looking forward to the challenges that are going to happen in what is without doubt going to be the critical decade in the planet’s history. 

32 | ENERGY IN BUILDINGS & INDUSTRY | JANUARY 2020

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PURCHASING UTILITIES

For further information on Utility Bidder visit www.eibi.co.uk/enquiries and enter ENQUIRY 135

Are energy prices at risk?

Deadlines have come and gone as to when the UK is leaving the EU. With Brexit now assured can businesses be confident that the energy market will remain unchanged? James Longley investigates

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ith the UK voting to leave the European Union in 2016, many have been speculating the past three years as to what this means for near enough everything. From import and export rates, immigration, business deals with the rest of the world and more, but one that has been hotly contested constantly is energy.

It is clear that among a few other things, the future of energy is likely to be affected by Brexit, particularly if we leave the EU without a deal. Energy is one of the most difficult markets to predict, so adding more uncertainty in the form of Brexit is rightly concerning businesses across the board, from one-man bands to blue-chip companies with multiple locations across the country.

Energy UK, the trade association for the British energy industry, has suggested that an increasing number of Brexit-related energy issues could lead to higher bills.

There are three main ways in which leaving the EU could potentially push up energy bills in the UK: • a reduction in EU investment and increased transportation costs around 12 per cent of the UK’s gas and 5 per cent of our electricity comes from the EU. At the moment, we have secure interconnectors with France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Ireland, while Northern Ireland has interconnectors with the Republic of Ireland and Scotland. Interconnectors that link the UK with Norway and Denmark are currently being built. If the UK does leave the EU Internal Energy Market, using our existing interconnectors could become overall less efficient and more costly. For the UK to continue to benefit from this set-up we’d need new trading agreements to govern cross-border electricity flows; • leaving the EU Emission Trading System (EU ETS) - the UK is currently part of the EU Emission Trading System (EU ETS). This is an EU-wide system that dictates a price on carbon through

‘There is a real need for pricing and any increases to be forewarned’ trading of emission permits. We don’t yet know what carbon pricing mechanism the UK will be in post-Brexit and this will make it difficult to price any thermal generation, causing uncertainty across the market; and • not having a replacement body for Euratom - Euratom (European Atomic Energy Community) is the EU’s nuclear cooperation treaty, and if the UK doesn’t put a replacement body in place, things could get difficult. This may spell serious consequences for the UK’s nuclear industry.

To compound this, Kristian Ruby, the head of pan-European trade association Eurelectric, has been quoted as saying a no-deal exit could mean that “the UK faces third-party costs to use the power lines connecting Britain to European power markets, which would raise the overall cost of the energy.”

There are also plans afoot already to look at the pricing models for energy from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), which also has implications for tax.

Under these circumstances, the UK would cease to participate in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), and BEIS would replace emissions trading in the UK with a fixed-rate tax, called the

James Longley is managing director of Utility Bidder

Carbon Emissions Tax. The contents of the recently leaked no-deal planning report, Operation Yellowhammer, now published officially by the government that aims to predict a “reasonable worst-case scenario” of a no-deal Brexit. The document foresees a marked increase in energy prices for homes and businesses if the UK crashes out without a deal.

The report revealed that the “demand for energy will be met”, but it also states that “there will likely be significant electricity price increases for consumers (business and domestic), with associated wider economic and political impacts.”

It’s not just businesses that are concerned, a recent poll we commissioned suggested that more than 60 per cent of consumers were concerned that their energy bills would rise in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

The consumer market is always a good yardstick by which to measure the overall concerns of the country when it comes to energy. After all, consumers are possibly more aware of the cost of energy than most SMEs. What the energy industry can do before the point that we leave the EU is to be transparent with SMEs and the wider energy consumer market. There’s a real need for pricing and any increases to be forewarned. Measures like the recent energy cap only do so much to mitigate the apparent changes we are possibly going to face.

There’s a real need for SMEs and also consumers to also be aware of any changes forthcoming. There are ways in which to prepare for this yourself. We always recommend reviewing energy deals and tariffs that you are part of.

Often a quick check can reveal whether you are paying too much and being prepared ahead of time can never be a bad thing. Whatever Brexit brings, it should be noted that businesses are to some degree, masters of their own destiny when it comes to energy. Even seeking renewable alternatives is wise at times like this.  JANUARY 2020 | ENERGY IN BUILDINGS & INDUSTRY | 33

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Drives & Motors For further information on ABB visit www.eibi.co.uk/enquiries and enter ENQUIRY No. 137

Seven virtues of VSDs Carl Turbitt looks at seven very diverse opportunities offered by variable speed drives that he believes can significantly improve building services efficiency in 2020

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here are two very different cost considerations with VSDs: the cost of running and the cost of NOT running, for example, a fan system. These two aspects, together with the purchase price, make up the “cost of ownership” of the entire fan system.

The cost of running comprises the associated energy costs as well as the costs of operating and maintaining the fan and motor.

Maintenance costs can also cover major overhauls undertaken to extend the useful life of the system.

The cost of NOT running is a direct cost to a process such as the impact that a forced outage can have on a company’s brand and image.

Many HVAC applications, such as air handling units (AHUs), can benefit from the integrated control functions built within a VSD. These functions remove the need for costly external components, thereby saving costs, space and reducing installation time. Many of an AHU’s control functions such as timers and lamps, can be performed by the VSD. Optimising the engineering of the AHUs can remove the need for warning lamps, for example, used to signal dirty or blocked filters or air duct blockages.

This is achieved by transferring the wiring directly into the VSD’s I/O, ensuring that any warnings are now shown directly on the keypad.

Furthermore, traditional timers can be replaced by utilising the VSD’s internal real-time clock.

The clock can be used to switch the unit on and off according to a pre-programmed schedule. It is also possible to rewire frost thermostats into the VSD. If the external temperature falls below a predetermined level, the VSD’s PID function sends signals to slow down the fan motor which closes the damper and opens the heating valve. The VSD will only speed up the motor once a safe temperature is reached, thereby protecting the motor from potential frost damage.

Time is money and a growing

Some of the features built into a drive which could save up to 50 percent of the cost of cabinet components

priority in building services is for HVAC components that are easy to install and quick to set up.

Today’s VSDs don’t disappoint, and despite their small size, they have complete functionality built-in for controlling not only fans, pumps and compressors, but also more complex HVAC equipment like airhandling units.

Adaptive programming A VSD features adaptive programming software which customises the drive for specific needs without any previous programming knowledge. The “learn it once, use it everywhere” philosophy increases the intelligence of an AHU by replacing basic information such as “filter blocked” or “filters dirty” with proactive prompts such as “check bag filter” or “check panel filter”.

The warning is now in terminology suitable for the specific application providing practical guidance on how to remedy. This makes it easier for operators not familiar with the fresh air supply units to react safely.

Electronically commutated motors (ECMs) are combined with a brushless controller onto the fan assembly. However, if

one component fails, the entire unit – including fan, motor and controller - must be replaced.

ECM fans have a poor harmonic signature, typically do not come with building management system (BMS) fieldbus protocols and cannot catch spinning loads which for some applications like data centres are a requirement. ECMs are only available in low powers, so several The ABB HVAC drive, ACH580, is now available as an ultra-low harmonic (ULH) variant

Carl Turbitt is HVAC Drives UK sales manager at ABB Drives

units must be combined into a fan array to reach the desired power.

However, this adds components into the system, thereby increasing the probability of failure. If a unit fails, increasing the speed to maintain the flow will take more power, thus not maintaining specific fan power requirements. Adding all the individual units will lead to a higher overall weight of the fan array.

A far more flexible option is to consider some of the other motor technologies such as synchronous reluctance motors (SynRM), permanent magnet (PM) motors or the long-established and traditional induction motor (IM).

Harmonics can cause interference in communication equipment and false readings on measurement devices. Harmonics can trip circuit breakers, blow fuses and cause capacitor failures.

Equipment must be designed to tolerate harmonics in the network and oversizing leads to higher investment costs and under-utilised capacity. The problems caused by harmonics result in increased losses because more energy is wasted due to overheating.

Additionally, equipment has a shorter lifetime and is subject to unreliable operation.

Instead of tackling harmonics by adding cooling or overdimensioning equipment, a better way is to use products that do not cause harmonics in the first place. For instance, a new breed of ultra-low harmonic drive is emerging. These new VSDs produce exceptionally low harmonic content, typically just three percent, exceeding the requirements set by international standards.

This compares favourably with the alternative method of using a passive filter, which typically reduces harmonic distortion to between five to 10 percent.

Ultra-low harmonic drives achieve a unity power factor.

This high-power factor indicates that the electrical energy is used to its full potential. The VSD reduces the need for additional power factor correction equipment, including filters and large capacitor banks.

This new ultra-low harmonic drive can also help to avoid penalty charges set by electrical utilities for poor power factors. 

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Unleash the intelligence from within

Optimize performance with

intelligent drives

Want to fast track the digital transformation for you and your customers in an easy and affordable way?

Unleash the full power of Industrial IoT with intelligent drives from Danfoss. They not only optimize performance but let you easily add predictive and condition-based maintenance capabilities to your system.

DKDD.PA.850.A1.02-UK

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danfoss.com/unleash-drive-as-a-sensor

eibi.co.uk/enquiries Enter 16

Drives & Motors For further information on Danfoss Drives visit www.eibi.co.uk/enquiries and enter ENQUIRY No. 136

Cool runnings Variable speed drives generate heat and usually that heat is unwanted. But what’s the best way to deal with it? Alan Baird looks at the options

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here isn’t a variable speed drive that does not produce heat while operating and it’s very unlikely that one will be developed anytime soon.

The amount of heat produced by a VSD is inversely proportional to its efficiency – hence, the more efficient the VSD, the less heat it will generate. And, since high efficiency also reduces running costs, the message is clear: always start by choosing the most efficient VSD available that will suit the application in hand.

Except in the smallest sizes, modern VSDs can be expected to be up to 98 per cent efficient, so only 2 per cent of the energy they use is converted to waste heat.

That’s an impressive performance nevertheless, and with large drives it can still amount to a lot of heat.

If the VSD (or VSDs) have a high IP rating such as IP54, that can be used without an additional enclosure, the most usual answer is to provide air conditioning for the room in which they’re installed. If they are of a lower IP rating such as IP20 for instance, that have to be installed in a control panel, the panel will need to be force ventilated, which means fitting fans and filters. And the room in which the control panel is installed will still need air conditioning!

Actually, if only a few small drives are involved, these solutions will most likely be perfectly adequate. With big drives or multiple drives, however, the cost of running the air conditioning system continuously to remove the heat quickly becomes prohibitive for a number of reasons including the running cost and additional noise generated. And, for panelmounted drives, there’s the extra cost of the energy to run the forced ventilation fans to be considered, not to mention the

There are two solutions to removing unwanted heat from the use of variable speed drives

‘Modern variable speed drives can be expected to be 98 per cent efficient’ cost of the air filters, which will need to be changed periodically.

Back-channel cooling There are two solutions. The first is back-channel cooling, which is available as an option for all Danfoss VLT high power drives. In these VSDs, the power devices are mounted on efficient aluminium heatsinks, which are arranged so they shield the control electronics from the heat produced by the power devices. The heatsinks are also designed so that they form a continuous channel at the back of the drive, over which cooling air can flow.

VSDs with back channel cooling are arranged typically with the aid of a simple and low-cost ducting system, so that they draw in cool air from outside the building in

which they are fitted, pass the air through the back channel formed by the heatsinks, and then discharge the warmed air into the environment. As a result, heat corresponding to only around 0.3 per cent of the drive rating is released into the room where the drive is installed. With our earlier example of a 450kW drive, the heat released is significantly reduced from 9kW to 1.35kW, which is far more manageable.

With this reduced heat release, air conditioning may not be needed at all and, in those cases where it is still necessary, the running costs will be very much lower than they would be if conventional drives had been used. When back-channel cooled VSDs are mounted in control panels, forced ventilation is rarely

Alan Baird is country manager UK and Ireland at Danfoss Drives

- if ever - needed. In addition, the ducting kits supplied for use with these drives ensure that the IP rating of the panel itself is never compromised.

Back-channel cooled VSDs are an ideal solution in many applications, but particularly where space is limited or where it would be difficult to install ducting, another option is available: liquid-cooled VSDs. These work on the principle of a simple heat exchanger.

Liquid is circulated around the heatsinks that power electronic devices, such as Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) and other heat generating components are mounted, from which it removes the heat. The liquid is then routed via pipes to a radiator where it loses the heat to the environment. The benefits are that the pipework is small and easy to accommodate and that, if necessary, the radiator can be mounted at a considerable distance from the drive. With this arrangement, as with the backchannel air-cooled drives, very little heat is released into the room in which the drives are installed.

The best liquid-cooled drives are those which have been designed specifically for this form of cooling, rather than simply being air-cooled types that have been adapted for liquid cooling.

In fact, dedicated liquid-cooled drives offer additional benefits.

They are physically smaller than air-cooled drives with the same power rating. Liquid-cooled VSDs in the Danfoss range are typically around one-third the size of their air-cooled counterparts and are 30 per cent lighter. Also, they produce around 20 dBA less acoustic noise.

All VSDs generate heat, but as we’ve seen, dealing with this heat doesn’t have to be a problem.

With smaller drives – provided that high efficiency types are chosen – special measures are unlikely to be necessary. For high power types, back-channel cooling provides an effective solution where access can be gained to the outside air reasonably easily, while liquid-cooling provides a very versatile solution for more challenging applications. 

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David Simoes is marketing and product manager, Zehnder Group UK

Energy in the Public Sector For further information on Zehnder Group UK visit www.eibi.co.uk/enquiries and enter ENQUIRY No. 138

Healthcare demands

on to the panels is removed. This helps prevent bacteria spreading at certain temperatures. The panels are also unaffected by floor cleaning, which impacts on underfloor heating solutions performance and longevity.

There are five important considerations every healthcare manager should consider when choosing a heating and cooling solution, believes David Simoes

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he healthcare sector has long been one of the UK’s largest capital construction sectors – nudging the £3bn mark at present. Much of this funding is aimed at providing new hospitals to meet our growing population and healthcare needs.

However, a significant proportion is benchmarked for improving the efficiency of current healthcare facilities, whilst delivering cost savings, enhanced productivity and energy efficiency.

Of the many key factors that influence decisions made when considering heating and cooling solutions for the development of new sites, or the improvement of existing ones, there are five that are absolutely critical.

These decisions will help healthcare facility managers satisfy industry regulations, best practice guidelines and the need to deliver a sustainable, lasting-value solution while delivering a comfortable, healthy environment for patients, staff and facility users. They are: • cost; • reducing the risk of infection; • ease of installation; • comfort; and • adaptability.

In this overview of how radiant heating and cooling (RHC) ceiling panels can ensure healthcare managers meet these requirements, I will focus on each of these areas to reveal the benefits that they deliver.

1) Cost of the project A recent Carbon Trust Report, Hospitals: healthy budgets through energy efficiency, notes that: “Energy consumption in hospitals is growing steadily. Electricity already accounts for over 50 per cent of a hospital’s energy costs and consumption is set to increase.

There are still many opportunities to achieve energy and cost savings just by implementing a few basic measures.”

Fig. 1 details where the biggest savings can be made – and heating

3) Ease of installation With no moving parts, RHC panels are simple and quick to install causing minimal disruption. They contain very few serviceable parts – and those that do, offer a very long lifecycle and are fully recyclable at the end of their life.

4) Comfort

Radiant heating and cooling can deliver a healthy environment in hospitals

and cooling plays a massive part (just about two-thirds of the total).

RHC ceiling panels offer energy savings of up to 42 per cent because they heat water to generate heat, which is more energy efficient and cost-effective than heating air.

Further savings are made thanks to the way that they only heat objects and occupants in a room, rather than the entire space of the room. This obviously reduces energy use further.

Any cost savings that can be achieved in purchasing air-based systems are incredibly short-term.

An RHC system’s sustainable level of performance, according to an ASHRAE study, offers 42 per cent energy savings in the second and third year of operation, when compared to a variable air volume, or air-based systems.

RHC ceiling panels also have a very low inertia, making them very easy to adjust and much more energy efficient than high inertia systems, such as underfloor heating.

Maintenance of heating systems can be a significant contributor to ongoing costs as well. RHC panels have no moving parts, making their maintenance needs very low and just a cloth and mild detergent is needed to clean them.

Compare this to underfloor heating which requires entire wards to be

evacuated or closed for servicing, or to air-based systems whose high maintenance needs stem from the hygiene-risk of the build-up of dirt.

2) Reduced risk of infection RHC panels can be supplied with an anti-bacterial coating, which prevents the growth of harmful bacteria such as E.coli and MRSA. This reduces the likelihood of infection and illness.

In addition, due to their placement on the ceiling, any risk of blood or other bodily fluids spilling Fig. 1: Energy consumption in a typical hospital by end use

RHC systems achieve an even distribution of heating and cooling and, importantly, they do so silently without the noise that other systems emit.

This reduces cold, or excessively warm, areas of wards and other areas. For instance, the cooling offered by fan coil units is extremely uncomfortable to anyone located in proximity to the unit – it can feel like standing in a cool draught.

Beyond issues of comfort, there is also safety as a consideration.

Heating systems installed from the ceiling eliminate the risk of injuries or discomfort being caused when touched, or contact is made.

5) Adaptability By providing both heating and cooling functions within one system, healthcare managers can deploy an energy efficient solution for both requirements – with neither needing additional servicing or alterations.

In addition, RHC ceiling panels can be easily adapted to meet changes in the structuring and organisation of the building’s space.

They provide the required heat or cooling output according to the ‘active’ areas within a building, where more people are located for example. This means they are also perfectly suited to handling the heating and cooling of areas which are not always occupied, or which people pass temporarily through, such as corridors, reception areas or storage spaces. The panels will only direct heat where activity occurs, so costs associated with heating are not wasted in areas which are empty or only occasionally in use. 

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Energy in the Public Sector

Holly Croft is PR and marketing officer at Salix Finance

For further information on Salix Finance visit www.eibi.co.uk/enquiries and enter ENQUIRY No. 139

Leading the way to net zero The pressure will be on the public sector to show the way when it comes to decarbonisation of heat. Holly Croft suggests methods for energy managers to use to take a lead

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s we enter a new decade, the importance of climate action in the years to come sits at the forefront of the evolution of estates strategy.

Although there are multiple layers to the development of an effective and personalised approach which fits within practical limitations, it is clear that public sector organisations must consider the significance of the decarbonisation of heat in the modernisation and improvement of their estates.

In the 2016 Clean Growth report on transforming heating, the Department for Business, Industry and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) outlined that heat accounted for 37 per cent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, with 17 per cent of this figure being attributed to the heating of buildings.1 Additionally, the World Meteorological Organisation’s 2019 report on greenhouse gases notes that heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached a record high, meaning that the continuation of this long-term trend will severely impact the same future generations that public sector institutions such as schools, universities and the NHS look to protect and nurture.2 National government statistics indicate that, in 2018, emissions from the public sector accounted for 2 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions in the UK.3 Qasim Akhtar, technical services manager at Salix Finance, a government-funded organisation dedicated to financing energy efficiency in the public sector, recommends that: “In order to meet carbon targets there will need to be a stronger focus on the decarbonisation of heat across the public sector. While there is a strong financial incentive in the immediate reduction of costly electricity, focus is also needed on decarbonising heat sources and implementing energy efficiency measures which reduce heat loss through buildings and

The importance of climate action will be at the forefront of the evolution of estates strategy

reduce heat wastage.

In the public sector, there is a clear sense of urgency when it comes to implementing sustainability measures. Many local authorities and education institutions have declared a state of climate emergency, with a view to committing to quantifiable goals and establishing long-term change. In response to this movement, BEIS are set to introduce an Emissions Reduction Pledge in 2020, which will function as guidance for public and higher education sector organisations in England that want to support and report against a voluntary emissions reduction target.4

Value of leading by example By signing a formal agreement such as this, organisations will be able to reinforce the value of leading by example, in order to influence other public sector bodies and individuals to consider the constructive and realistic steps that can be taken to reduce carbon emissions. This is particularly important in order to demonstrate that, despite the sometimes-complex nature of the decarbonisation of heat, the benefits of implementing such measures are indisputable and can be achieved through the installation of a variety of different technologies. Furthermore,

increased investment in this area is likely to improve the accessibility of both expertise and resources.

If your organisation is looking at developing a carbon reduction strategy, there are several options to consider when targeting heat.

Some of the main options include the electrification of heating systems and decentralised heat networks in addition to a focus on alternative sources of low carbon heat such as hydrogen and bioenergy. There is also a continued role for established energy efficiency measures to minimise unnecessary heating use in buildings.

The electrification of heating systems could start with the installation of air-source, groundsource and water-source heat pumps.

It may also be possible to implement hybrid systems which allow the most efficient use of gas, which is only utilised when the pump cannot otherwise meet the full heating requirement. This could mean four parts electricity would be used with only one-part gas. Over time, this may develop to the use of four parts biogas to one-part renewables, which would almost completely eliminate carbon from the process.

Decentralised heat networks may also be a suitable option for many and it may be possible to build networks using gas with a view to transition to an alternative energy

source in the future. Some networks are also beginning to use heat pump technology and other low carbon heating technologies to fuel the transition towards low carbon heat networks. Heat networks can also capture waste heat from existing subway systems, cooling systems, thermal power plants and heavy industry.

Finally, the future of decarbonisation of heat looks to move towards fuels such as hydrogen, biogas or bio-synthetic natural gas in order to reduce carbon emissions from heat, with trials taking place across the country to understand how these options could be implemented.

Linking to all of these options, there continues to be an important role for established energy efficiency measures to reduce unnecessary heating use in buildings, by improving building fabric insulation, building energy management systems and thermal storage.

Although each estate will face different challenges and requirements, joining the UKwide community of public sector organisations taking action is a great way to share knowledge, experience and encouragement on the journey to net-zero. Salix is interested to hear from the public sector about their plans to decarbonise heat and their interest in new and innovative technologies that could support both national and internal targets. 

References 1) https://assets.publishing.service. gov.uk/government/uploads/system/ uploads/attachment_data/file/766109/ decarbonising-heating.pdf 2) https://public.wmo.int/en/media/pressrelease/greenhouse-gas-concentrationsatmosphere-reach-yet-another-high 3) https://assets.publishing.service.gov. uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/790626/2018provisional-emissions-statistics-report.pdf 4) https://assets.publishing.service.gov. uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/745003/Guidance_ note_for_voluntary_reporting-final.pdf

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New Products For further information on products and services visit www.eibi.co.uk/enquiries and enter the appropriate online enquiry number

Smart metering app for heat networks SAV and Insite Energy have joined forces to launch KURVE, the market’s first digital smart metering app for heat networks.

KURVE is a package which combines a Kamstrup energy meter, prepayment valve and Kamstrup MASTER, with a heat interface unit (HIU) from SAV or other provider. KURVE equipment is pre-wired and does not require an in-home display (IHD) device. KURVE’s design not only cuts down time spent on installation and validation of commissioning, it also significantly reduces service, maintenance and administration costs compared to PAYG alternatives.

Designed for use by both heat network operators and consumers, KURVE has the potential to deliver 62 per cent savings in capital expenditure and 53 per cent savings in operational costs. Heat network operators specifying KURVE will gain remote access to data diagnostics including energy consumption and VWART (Volume Weighted Average Return Temperature) from each connected meter, using the system’s wired Smart M-Bus infrastructure.

Analysis of this data provides insight into usage patterns and enables heat network operators to optimise network performance, a functionality that hitherto was only available with expensive, pre-payment metering solutions.

At the same time, KURVE shows users their energy consumption for the day, week, month and year, giving them access to this data whenever they want, via any internet-connected device. This visibility promotes their engagement with the system and their energy usage - a proven way of encouraging reduced energy use. Payments can be made securely via PayPoint through the KURVE App, in any PayPoint outlet, or over the phone.

ONLINE ENQUIRY 104

Unlocking long-range wireless monitoring Carlo Gavazzi has launched a long-range wireless solution for energy monitoring.

The UWP-A and UWP-M reduces installation costs and avoids expensive cabling significantly for many energy efficiency monitoring projects and provides a solution for applications where a traditional cabled network is unsuitable.

The UWP-A is an endpoint adapter which provides long range (up to 10km) communication to Carlo Gavazzi energy meters and power analysers for easy integration into standard LoRaWAN gateways (private networks) and LoRaWAN public networks (smart cities).

While the UWP-M master module, makes it easy to create a wireless network of UWP-A based endpoints and integrates into the Carlo Gavazzi’s UWP monitoring gateway and controller.

Using EU868 MHz band, a license and cost-free frequency, the UWP-A enables easy and fast configuration, making it easy for installers to set-up a secure and reliable wireless network of meters. Simple connection to the UWP universal web controller through the UWP-M gateway, provides collection of vital data without the need for any SIM cards or additional costs.

Many operators provide access to wireless LoRaWAN networks, covering cities or entire countries: the UWP-A is key to collection of metering data through these networks, for a hassle-free deployment of distributed networks over large areas.

The UWP-A and UWP-M is a solution for applications where traditional cabled networks are difficult or not cost effective to install such as industrial facilities, energy farms, shopping centres or large buildings.

ONLINE ENQUIRY 107

Heat emitter for care environments Zehnder Group UK has launched Zehnder Lateo, a natural convector heat emitter tailored to care environments. It is claimed to offer a safer alternative compared to standard radiator solutions as the heat emitter is positioned behind the casing which helps deliver a lower touch temperature.

This key design element of the Lateo means it is suitable for care environments, such as hospitals, nursing homes, and educational settings including nurseries and primary schools where safety is crucial.

Zehnder Lateo prevents the room cooling down and counteracts unpleasant draughts by mirroring the outdoor natural thermal lift effect, which allows birds and gliders to effortlessly rise into the air. By utilising this principle, called convection, the Lateo provides contemporary and efficient heating technology.

The Lateo’s interplay between cold air and rising hot air, particularly at window façades, produces a thermal wall that prevents the room cooling down and counteracts any unwanted cold draughts and creates a cosy and natural warmth.

Other benefits include: • versatile uses, for example at glazed areas or in alcoves; • closed design due to compact construction; • short response time means rooms can be heated up rapidly; • high thermal output means large rooms are heated up rapidly; and • invisible integrated connections.

ONLINE ENQUIRY 105

Thermostat available in four versions SALUS has launched the Quantum thermostat, which the company describes as “the most revolutionary thermostat to ever hit the heating market.”

The unit is available in four versions (SQ & WQ range), 230V mains powered and LI-ION rechargeable battery powered radio Frequency (RF) for both underfloor and boiler markets.

A warm floor feature has been designed to overcome solar gain issues. Long periods of solar gain through large expanses of glass normally cause the floor temperature to reduce, thus causing longer reheat times. The newly developed Quantum warm floor feature however helps maintain warmth in the floor during these long periods.

The SALUS Quantum SQ Version features a humidity sensor, operates with underfloor heating, smart radiator systems and is fully compatible with SALUS Smart Home and Amazon Alexa.

The S1 and S2 terminals are designated to provide additional connections including three sensors, an external air sensor, external floor sensor and an occupancy Senso.

In addition it has the possibility to connect with two switches, a light switch, a dedicated switch that might be programmed to trigger certain automation rules, scenarios, customised SMS alerts or e-mail messages and a changeover switch, a simple way to switch between heating and cooling mode.

Other key features include: • comfort settings; • humidity sensor; • fully programmable over seven days; • external sensor connection support; and • five-year warranty.

ONLINE ENQUIRY 106

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DIRECTORY CONTACTS

New Products

For further information on products and services visit www.eibi.co.uk/enquiries and enter the appropriate online enquiry number

To advertise in this section contact classified sales on Tel: 01889 577222 Email: classified@eibi.co.uk

Air Conditioning

Range of gas flow meters comes to the UK MRM Turbine gas flow meters are now available in the UK exclusively from Bell Flow Systems.

The meters are manufactured by Metreg Technologies who offer a complete product range for fiscal and non-fiscal gas flow measurement for industrial and commercial applications.

The MRM rotary displacement gas flow meter is designed for fiscal metering of natural gas and is approved according to the European requirements of EN12480, MID (2004/22/EG) and OIML R137-1 & 2: 2012. The MRM rotary displacement gas meter is suitable to be installed in hazardous areas of Category 2 (Zone 1) II 2 G c IIC T4 X. The MRM rotary displacement gas meter is suitable for the following gases: Natural gas, town gas, propane, butane, ethylene, air, nitrogen, with further gases on request.

Rotary gas meters are characterised by their very compact design and high accuracy. The MRM rotary meter requires no inlet or outlet straight pipe lengths or flow conditioning and is insensitive to severe gas flow fluctuations (discontinuous operation).

ONLINE ENQUIRY 108

RECRUITMENT

Energy Policy, Marketing and Business Development Manager £35,000- £38,000 per annum Wilson Power Solutions is a Leeds-based leading manufacturer and supplier of electrical power distribution equipment and pioneers of ultra-low loss amorphous transformer technology. Our flagship product saves money, energy and cuts carbon emissions.

We are seeking an experienced professional to join the sales and marketing team as Energy Policy, Marketing and Business Development Manager.

The candidate must demonstrate experience in the energy sector, research methodologies, marketing and social media management, ideally at a degree level. The candidate will help the team on two fronts, nationally; to maintain our marketing activities and to understand different energy policies in the UK and start campaigns to influence them and internationally; the candidate must speak Arabic to drive expansion plans in the Middle East.

In addition to the salary, a profit related bonus scheme, parking on site, and a healthcare scheme are amongst our benefits.

Closing date: 18 January 2020 To find out more and apply, please visit: wilsonpowersolutions.co.uk/careers-at-wilson

To find out more about promoting your business to over

12,000* readers ring Sharon on 01889 577 222 or email classified@eibi.co.uk *12,179 ABC circulation January-December 2018

40 | ENERGY IN BUILDINGS & INDUSTRY | JANUARY 2020

Boilers

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DIRECTORY CONTACTS

To advertise in this section contact classified sales on Tel: 01889 577222 Email: classified@eibi.co.uk www.eibi.co.uk

Chillers

Compressed Air, Industrial Gases & Vacuum

Energy Monitoring & Targeting

Industrial Thermometers

Meters - Water, Oil, Gas & Heating

TURNKEYaM&T Meter and monitoring any utility. In house designed hardware and software.

SME’s, City Wide Projects, Large Organisations. Pulse, Modbus, Mbus. www.energymeteringtechnology.com enquiries@energymeteringtechnology.com Tel: 01628 664056

Meters - Water, Oil, Gas & Heating Cooling

Lighting Controls Heat Networks

Control & Automation

Controls & Inverters

Humidity Control

Meters

Temperature Sensors

METERING DOCTORS LET US SOLVE YOUR METERING PROBLEMS

EMT resolve issues with meters and aM&T systems that have been badly fitted and are inappropriate or wrongly installed, systems that have never functioned properly and unsuitable or wrongly configured software.

We have considerable knowledge and can help assess, recommission or replace any aM&T system to render them as useful tools for your utility management needs.

Call Sharon to discuss your advertising on 01889 577222 Or email classified@eibi.co.uk

For more information on how we can help, Tel: 01628 664056 Email: enquiries@meteringtech.com www.energymeteringtechnology.com

JANUARY 2020 | ENERGY IN BUILDINGS & INDUSTRY | 41

TALKING HEADS Jamie Green

Jamie Green is consultant at Concept Energy Solutions

Is solar PV still worth it?

The Feed in Tariff is out, the Smart Export Guarantee is in. But does solar PV remain a viable investment?

Jamie Green explains that in certain scenarios PV remains a technology to consider

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enewable energy is central to rapid decarbonisation of UK energy supplies. While any number of energy mix scenarios could be considered, solar PV is currently the second cheapest source of renewable energy in the UK after onshore wind and is likely to be a key component. The Centre for Alternative Energy’s Zero Carbon Britain scenario calls for 75GW covering 10-15 per cent of Britain’s roof area. The government’s own Committee on Climate Change (CCC) modelled between 23 and 43GW of Solar PV capacity by 2030 across several scenarios in their 2018 Progress Report to Parliament.

Yet as of 1st April 2019, the government has removed the Feed in Tariff (FiT) scheme. Since 2010, this had paid owners of registered PV systems for each kWh of electricity generated, and an additional tariff per kWh for electricity exported to the national grid. By the closure of the scheme, the generation tariff element had been reduced from over 40p/kWh to less than 4p/kWh for the smallest systems.

System installation costs have fallen by over 75 per cent.

Ofgem installation reports reveal the impact key policy changes had on uptake throughout the scheme’s duration. While drastic cuts in 2012 curtailed uptake in the short term, the coalition-led policy from late 2012 of small quarterly tariff cuts, or ‘regression’, managed to deliver long-term growth with ever reducing levels of subsidy.

Key to both customer and supply chain was the relative certainty this provided to enable long term planning.

By contrast, the drastic cuts enacted by the Conservatives in January 2016 caused a significant reduction in uptake. The two years following these cuts saw a 39 per cent reduction in new capacity compared with the preceding two years. Since at least April 2017, installation costs have remained more or less constant. This illustrates the continued reliance of solar PV on subsidy but is also indicative of the impact on customer perception of drastic tariff cuts.

Growth in total solar PV deployment has plateaued since the most drastic cuts,

Green: 'there are no current plans to reinstate the generation tariff'

Now let’s compare two scenarios, one with no export (100 per cent on site use) and one with 50 per cent export to the grid, both with an average daytime grid electricity price of 14p/kWh. We will assume that new installations will be able to access SEG rates for export at 5p/kWh. Scenario 1 – no export • Bill saving = 18,600 x 0.14 = £2,604 per year • Simple payback = £23,700/£2,604 = 9.1 years

Scenario 2 – 50 per cent export • Bill saving = 18,600 x 50 per cent x 0.14 = £1,302 per year • Export income = 18600 x 50 per cent x 0.05 = £465 • Simple payback = £23,700/(£1302+£465) = 13.4 years

‘The key is to size systems to daytime building loads so on-site solar generation is maximised’ and eventual removal of the FiT scheme. It seems likely that the required uptake envisaged by the Committee on Climate Change to achieve net-zero emissions is dependent on further subsidy for the time being.

January 1 2020 saw the launch of the market-led Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), which requires electricity suppliers to offer a tariff and make payment to small-scale, low-carbon generators for electricity exported to the grid. This replaces the export tariff element of the FiT scheme, but there are no current plans to reinstate the generation tariff. Given that current deployment rates have all but stalled, such a reinstatement is clearly required to meet long-term carbon reduction targets. But until that happens, is solar PV still worth it?

Energy generated used on site or exported Aside from the usual system performance factors such as shading and orientation, this depends on whether the energy is used on site or exported to the grid. Let’s assume a 20kWp system installed on a pitched roof with optimal orientation, roof pitch and no shading.

In the Midlands this system might generate 18,600kWh each year and would cost around £23,700 to install according to government figures for mean £/kWp installed in March 2019.

So the payback is almost 50 per cent longer with 50 per cent export compared with no export. Once maintenance, inflation, degradation and typical cashflow discounting is considered, this may be the difference between a positive negative and negative cashflow over 20 years. Assuming panel performance degradation in line with warranty, inverter replacement costs at 10 per cent of capex in year 12, a discount rate of 6 per cent, electricity price inflation of 5 per cent p.a. and Retail Price Index inflation of 2.5 per cent p.a, Scenario 1 would yield an Net Present Value (NPV) of around £13,000 and an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 11 per cent, while Scenario 2 gives a negative NPV. Clearly then, the key is to size systems appropriately to daytime building loads, such that on-site use of solar generation is maximised. Under these scenarios, solar PV can make an attractive investment, even without subsidy from the Feed in Tariff.

System sizing must always be carried out by the installer. However, installers may be tempted to maximise system size to roof dimensions, requiring an element of trust by the customer. Given the significant impact to the investment, this justifies increased scrutiny of sizing calculations. It’s our view that independent, expert guidance is vital if businesses want to really gain from investing in solar PV. 

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