27 November 2007 11:15
E.ON UK welcomes Carbon Trust report on micro-CHP field trials, calls for more policy support

E.ON UK, one of the country's leading generators, has welcomed the Carbon Trust's interim report into its micro combined heat and power (mCHP) field trial and its recommendation that the technology should receive policy support.

The report recognises that mCHP has the potential to be rolled out more widely and could also make a significant contribution to reducing UK carbon emissions.

A mCHP unit saves money and carbon by generating electricity in addition to heat. The unit only generates electricity when heat is required, which means homes with a large and continuous heat demand - such as large or less well-insulated older homes - provide ideal conditions for deployment.  The new report, as well as E.ON experience from field trials, confirms this target market, which represents around half of the UK's housing stock.

Bob Taylor, Board member for Generation and Technology, said: "It's clear that, for larger and older homes, we see mCHP as the only affordable solution to reduce carbon from homes quickly, apart from energy efficiency measures.

"What's equally clear is that our experience firmly shows that kick-starting a new technology such as mCHP will need a huge concerted effort in order for it to be successfully rolled out in the UK. We have been running commercial trials of a mCHP Stirling engine for a number of years and will continue to do so in 2008, with the potential for wider roll-out in 2009 - helped by government support.

The report's results also confirm the relative benefits of mCHP when compared to some other microgeneration technologies, such as solar PV and micro wind.

"At E.ON, we also recognise that we're going to need a diverse range of microgeneration and are already offering a number of these such as ground source heat pumps, where we are one of the market leaders in the UK. We are also investigating a number of other options, such as fuel cells, where we are supported by our Europe-wide research network including the E.ON Energy Institute in Germany" said Bob.

"There isn't a silver bullet in either power stations or in microgeneration to solve the problem of climate change and so we need to look at all available technologies to produce a low carbon future."

E.ON has been leading the UK industry in introducing changes to the electricity settlement system which are needed to facilitate fair rewards for exported electricity.

Adequate installation capacity and skills are another key enabler for this new market, which should not be ignored by government.

Ends

Notes to editors:

• E.ON is one of the UK's leading power and gas companies - generating and distributing electricity, and retailing power and gas - and is part of the E.ON group, the world's largest investor-owned power and gas company. We employ around 18,000 people in the UK;
• Our retail business, branded Powergen, is a leading energy supplier in the UK, with around 8 million electricity and gas customer accounts, covering domestic, SME and industrial. Powergen offers central heating and boiler care through its Home Energy Services business;
• Our distribution business, branded Central Networks, provides a reliable supply to 4.9 customers in central England through 133,000km of underground and overhead cables - enough to go round the Earth almost four times - and via almost 97,000 substations. The company covers an area from the Peak District in the north to parts of Bristol in the south, and from the Welsh Borders to the Lincolnshire Coast;
• We are sponsoring The FA Cup, which is known as The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON. We sponsor Ipswich Town FC and are an official partner of The Tour of Britain, sponsoring the King of the Mountains competition. Our sponsorship of the weather on ITV also means that we're one of the best-known names in the business;
• The generation business produces enough electricity to cater for the needs of around eight million homes from a portfolio of world-class gas, coal and oil fired power stations;
• We are a market leader in combined heat and power, providing our customers with around 600MW of electricity and more than 1,000MW of heat at 13 sites across the country;
• We're one of the leading green generators in the UK, with 21 wind farms located from Cornwall to Northern Ireland. We also burn biomass material mixed with coal in two of our power stations and are currently building one of the UK's largest dedicated biomass power stations at Lockerbie. Combined, our renewable portfolio generates enough green energy to power the homes in a city the size of Manchester;
• We plan to spend £1bn on new renewables in the next five years, including new onshore and offshore wind, new biomass and wave and tidal power. Our green development portfolio could power over a million homes and displace the emission of almost two million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year;
• Our target is to cut the carbon released by each kW of electricity we generate by 10% between 2005-2012, having already reduced it by 20% since 1990;
• We have 1,300MW of renewable capacity under development;
• We invested £53 million in energy efficiency in 2006. These measures included loft and cavity wall insulation, installation of energy efficient boilers and smart metering, a technology we are investing a further £12 million in over the next two years;
• Our non-operational carbon intensity dropped by 15.5% per employee in 2006;
• We are investing £50 million in new technologies and approaches over the next 5 years, through the Energy Technologies institute;
• We have Biodiversity Action Plans at many of our sites which align us with the UK target of significantly reducing biodiversity loss;
• E.ON Group recently announced it intends to reduced the carbon intensity of its generation by 50% by 2030 (on 1990 levels);
• E.ON Group aims to spend €6bn on green generation by the end of 2010.

For more information contact:

Jamee Majid on 024 7618 3679