Microgeneration in Scotland (with thanks to SRF for this material)

INTRODUCTION

Scotland's climate, natural resources and the way it uses energy makes it an ideal place to promote microgeneration in every building in Scotland. Many customers are now increasingly interested in looking at alternative ways to meet a part of their energy needs. Whilst the electrical network is built around a centralised system of generation and transmission. Scottish Renewables believes that decentralised energy would be desirable and sustainable. Advances in technology mean that a new generation of devices are now available for use by Scottish households and businesses. However, these remain relatively expensive and users still have difficulty in understanding what microgeneration solutions might be appropriate, and that energy efficiency measures shoudl come first. With correctly targeted support, installation costs would quickly fall rapidly, resulting in a rapid increase in the level of microgeneration around Scotland.

THE LEVEL OF OPPORTUNITY IN SCOTLAND

If each of the 2.2 million homes in Scotland installed a microgeneration device or devices with an installed electrical capacity of 1kW, it would amount to the equivalent of a total of 2.2GW of installed electrical capacity, capable of generating 17% of all electricity consumption in Scotland and displacing more than 600,000 tonnes of carbon emissions from large scale generating plant.

In 2006 Scottish Renewables published the industry's vision for renewables in Scotland. Delivering the New Generation of Energy finds that microgeneration is unlikely to be mainstreamed before 2010. However, moving towards a mass market is desirable as soon as possible and we believe there are policy initiatives that can help deliver this. The Scottish Executive has introduced microgeneration targets in planning policy for renewable energy, the Scottish Building Standards Agency plans to improve standards so that more microgeneration will be used by large new buildings and the Scottish Executive is considering extending General Permitted Development to a range of microgeneration devices, including micro wind.

These policies are to be amalgamated into an Action Plan for microgeneration. This is appropriate because it will provide a strategic basis for action to deliver a sustainable and viable market for the nascent microgeneration sector in Scotland. Importantly, the Scottish Executive is now finally getting to grips with a heat strategy and has promised to deliver a renewable heat strategy by the end of 2007. with heat accounting for more than half of Scotland's energy use this is a vital initiative which, if it is to be effective, must be coupled to energy efficiency measures.

In addition, in the recent Scottish Parliamentary elections all political parties promised to deliver more incentives for microgeneration in Scotland. In Westminster, the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform and industry regulator, Ofgem, are exploring ways for micro renewable devices to capture the value of electricity by exporting onto the grid. The future appears promising for the Scottish microgeneration sector; however, to maximise its potential a great deal of work needs to be done by all players in the sector.

MICROGENERATION AND FUEL POVERTY

An often overlooked issue is the potential role of microgeneration in helping to tackle the longstanding Scottish problem of fuel poverty. Scotland suffers from having a high percentage of fuel-poor households that have low incomes and are hard to heat. Microgeneration could be effectively utilised to provide cost-secure electricity and heating for these households, to offset fuel bills while making a contribution to tackling climate change. This would be particularly important in rural areas and for those who do not benefit from being connected to the gas networks.

GETTING THERE

As a method to encourage and provide confident in markets, long-term signals like targets for installation of generation can be useful. Scottish Renewables welcomes any policy initiative that would seek to establish targets for microgeneration as long as they are ambitious, realistic, clear and measureable. Key to developing a mass market for microgeneration is getting the payback period of devices down to a level acceptable to the consumer. This will require concerted government support in policy making. In Scotland, this is being kick-started trhough the Scottish Community & Householder Renewables initiative, which provides advice, grant funding has been limited in the past and Scottish Renewables calls on the Scottish Executive to increase funding levels as part of a strategy designed to maximise its impact and signal that the body will operate beyond 2008, the year when funding comes to an end for SCHRI.

However, SCHRI will not be able to deliver a mass market in microgeneration anytime soon. What it has done is highlight the potential of the section and help those communities which need it most. To establish a mass market the Scottish Executive and the Department for Trade & Industry must look for ways to encourage that mass market and reduce payback periods for household who install a device. Whilst the market is currently in its infancy, both governments could lead by example and install microgeneration devices in all government buildings, including schools, office premises and hospitals.

Perhaps the biggest threat to the nascent sector is poor installation. There are currently 80 accredited microgeneration installers in Scotland. More professional and skilled networks of installers are required if industry reputations are to be maintained. Vocational qualifications taken up by a significant number of tradesmen will be central to a successful sector. This has been appreciated by Scotland's vocational trainers and Inverness College has established a Domestic Renewables Training Centre with the first qualified installers graduating in March 2006. Other colleges in Scotland have also taken an interest in the Inverness initiative.