Sunday 20 June 2010

Feet of clay

There must be very few observers who derive the slightest pleasure from the BP oil spillage fiasco. Yet, for every cloud...there may well be a silver lining.

Not least because those who believe the discovery and exploitation of new oil resources is constrained simply by the price of oil and the related investment cost for a viable field may finally understand that there may be limits to man's ingenuity.

Perhaps more importantly though, the smug complacency of the oil giants and indeed the energy giants generally, may be brought into focus by this blatant revelation of the fallibility of those previously unchallengeable masters of the energy universe.

Only a couple of months ago Tony Hayward was on the BBC ridiculing the very notion of "peak oil", propounding his view that we would reach "peak demand" long before there was any problem with supply. Quite apart from his entirely (deliberately?) missing the point that oil is a finite resource and that therefore we must eventually arrive at "peak oil", the pathetic deference of the interviewer in the face of this guru of oil, was a potent illustration of the level of debate in the energy future. He simply assumed that an energy giant like BP must know what they were doing and likewise their CEO.

Whether or not BP have behaved in a recklessly irresponsible way in their Gulf activities is of less concern than the revelation that BP, together with all the oil companies, all the energy companies are fallible; they are not to be taken at their word and should be challenged. So when EdF tells us we should cut back on renewables because it might impair their nuclear programme or Gazprom tell us to stop wasting our time on renewables because they have plenty of gas left, we should challenge those views and the motivation behind them.

Maybe microgeneration is expensive, but its costs are clear and upfront; it is unlikely to cost billions in clean-up or decommissioning costs! So maybe the first micro CHP products such as the Baxi Ecogen are entering the market at over £6000 (incidentally less than half an equivalent PV system), it is highly unlikely that we will suddenly be presented with a £20 billion contingency cost if they fail to perform!

And, maybe we should stop listening to the energy giants and think for ourselves!

Thursday 10 June 2010

Sub-optimal microgeneration...including micro CHP

Microgeneration can make a significant contribution to the overall energy system, particularly as a complementary component supporting other energy sources. In the book on micro CHP the potential to optimise this interaction is discussed, pointing out the risk that ill-considered government interventions, well-meaning, but ill-advised, may result in very poorly optimised systems. As an example the FIT (Feed In Tariff) as a consequence of the quite extreme distortion of value to the microgenerator, may result in a decade of sub-optimal control of microgeneration systems.

More detailed discussion is provided in the book, but in summary the point is made that, if the FIT is set at a level significantly higher than the true value of electricity produced (which it clearly is with PV at 41.3p/kWh against a retail value of around 10p/kWh and an export value of 3p/kWh), there is no incentive for the generator to match generation to self consumption. Only when this distorting subsidy is modified will anyone make the least effort to increase self-utilisation of generation output; we all suffer as a consequence.


At Intersolar, the European solar jamboree, one company (IBC Solar) was planning to introduce to the German market in September (when the German FIT will be significantly reduced) a rather clever system which is intended to realign consumption to generation by enabling certain circuits/appliances only when the PV (or other microgeneration system including micro CHP) is generating, thus improving self-consumption of generated electricity and consequently economic value to the consumer. At a cost of around €750 it is not cheap, but at least it proves the point, that developers will come up with better designed systems, but only once the distortions of FIT are withdrawn or at least reduced.


Anyway, another good reason to buy the book on micro CHP if you really want to understand microgeneration!