Rumours circulating in the industry appear to have been confirmed by what must rate as the lowest of all low key product launches in the history of the energy industry.
Buried deep within the E.ON web site, an article has appeared inviting aspirant micro CHP owners to put their name on the waiting list for the long awaited WhisperGen 1kW micro CHP product. This may be the equivalent of building up a queue for the new iPAD, but I hardly see a micro CHP unit as a fashion accessory. However, if previous experience is anything to go by, you had better get your name down fast as there may not be many products available for a while.
It is exactly eight years since E.ON launched the first true micro CHP unit, the WhisperGen. In fact at the time they were not even called E.ON, but Powergen; that’s how long ago it was! The initial micro CHP units quickly sold out and ambitious plans for the full scale roll out of 80,000 units were announced…and then it all went very quiet.
So what has been going on all those years?
Well, if you had read the small print at the time, you would have found that the “order” for 80,000 units was, not unreasonably, predicated on identifying a mass manufacturer capable of producing that many units. In the end, the Mondragon Group in Northern Spain set up a manufacturing plant specifically to produce the units for the European market. Just as well it turns out as the initial units were made in New Zealand in a plant since flattened by the earthquake.
And then there were the technical challenges. Anyone involved in product development knows that regardless of how many laboratory and field trials you undertake, it is only when you get into the market that Murphy’s Law really comes into play.
E.ON claim that the product now being launched has been subjected to millions of hours of testing and it is understood that all the initial units have been replaced under warranty by the current generation of more efficient, more robust, even quieter and generally better performing products. And that is one of the benefits of a giant like E.ON rather than that bloke round the corner introducing novel technologies to the consumer market. Whilst their glacial pace of innovation is unutterably frustrating for those of us who would like to see micro CHP products introduced at a more ambitious pace, it is reassuring to know that if anything does go wrong, the supplier has the resources to stand behind their product.
It will be interesting to see what they expect to sell them for. Last time they went on the market at £3000 installed, so even allowing for inflation that would be no more than £4000, although that was a heavily subsidised price. British Gas are asking more than £7000 for the Baxi Ecogen and the fact that both products are eligible for payments under the FIT scheme at 10p/kWh represents an implicit subsidy of at least £3000. So the higher investment cost can still be recovered over the life of the unit. (If you want to do the sums, you could start with this simple calculator to see how it works out for your home.)
Anyway, it has been a long time coming. Let’s hope that finally with two major players in the UK market, micro CHP will begin to takes its rightful place as one of the key microgeneration technologies.
For general information on micro CHP click here
For links to the E.ON site click here
For manufacturer's product information click here
For links to the E.ON site click here
For manufacturer's product information click here
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