On-site Renewables
Renewable energy technology can be deployed at a local level even at individual building level. Energy generation from each technology is dependent on site opportunities and demand, for example, whether there is sufficient wind speed, obstructions from other buildings (for wind or sunlight), ground conditions for heat pumps or sustained supply of biomass fuel. Indeed, other factors such as availability of a gas network could be important when deciding which technology is most suitable for a particular site.
For further information on which technologies are most suitable for different building types (especially in an urban environment) take a look at the London Renewables Toolkit.
Technologies include:
- Small scale wind
- Solar thermal (hot water)
- Photovoltaic
- Heat pumps (ground, air and water sourced)
Facts & Figures
The total number of PV installations before year 2000 was in the region of 100. Since the Photo Voltaic Major Demonstration Programme (PV MDP) grant scheme, approximately 1,000 small scale installations and 150 large scale installations have been awarded grant funding, although it is difficult to say at this point whether all of them will be installed.
The PV MDP grant scheme has observed a slight decrease in price (approximately 5%) over the past 5 years, but it is anticipated that the lack of silicon (the raw material for PV cells) will increase prices towards 2010. When the silicon issue is solved, prices could drop again by 5% towards 2015. These are very sensitive to world market prices and are therefore just assumptions.
Ground Source Heat Pumps have been installed for domestic applications since 1990 but only a handful annually. One of the first UK commercial sized heat pumps used water from the River Wensum in Norwich and was in use during the 1940's. In the last 15 years, installations have increased to approximately 200-300 annually which is still very low in comparison to gas boiler installations (approx. a million a year).
Solar Water Heating Systems have been installed for over three decades and many of those that were installed over two decades ago are currently being replaced. Estimated installation numbers for SWHS's vary from 5,000-6,000 systems annually.
Modern biomass boilers have
only been installed since 2000
and are still in very low numbers.