Local Sustainable Community Energy Systems |
The distributed energy approach using mixed technologies and private wire for mixed communities is unique to Woking and can be found nowhere else in the UK. As part of its energy efficiency programme the Council implemented its first CHP system in 1992 and the UK’s first small scale CHP/heat fired absorption chiller system in 1994 followed by a series of private wire residential CHP systems (the first and still the only systems of their type in the UK) and renewable energy systems. What marks these systems out from any other CHP system in the UK is the direct sale of cogenerated heat and green electricity to local customers at the same or lower price than for brown energy.
Local community energy systems can provide the full range of continuous energy services that customers would expect from an Energy Services Company or ESCO and achieve a substantial reduction in CO2 emissions through a fully supported local sustainable community energy system.
Local community energy systems can be made viable by combining the non-residential and residential parts of the community together on a predominantly thermal energy system making use of thermal storage, heat fired absorption cooling for air conditioning/ refrigeration and other waste heat rather than using gas or electricity for heating and cooling. Electricity consumption can also be significantly reduced by eliminating electric air conditioning and refrigeration as well as cogenerating more electricity from the ‘heat to cool’ process via CHP/heat fired absorption cooling. With the right mix of residential and non-residential buildings and the different types of energy usage and duration, sustainability in electricity with surplus export available can be achieved as has been accomplished in Woking.
Such sustainability in electricity will enable island generation to be provided (but only on private wire networks, since this is not possible on public wire networks) which means the energy stations can continue to operate independent of the national grid in the event of a failure of the national grid, even for prolonged periods, unlike conventional CHP/renewables which have to be automatically disconnected from the grid to prevent reverse power flows into a ‘dead’ grid. This security of supply and independence from the national grid in the event of disruption of the grid due to bad weather, damage or technical interruption is particularly attractive to customers and a practical embodiment of what sustainable energy can achieve.
Of particular importance is the proximity of the new and existing industrial/commercial sites to each other. Hence the need to take a community led approach to such projects and the importance of the local authority understanding this concept and proactively assisting in delivering such projects. |
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