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| Part L Revealed |
Since the announcement last September by the Minister for the Environment of substantial improvements to be made under Part L of the Building Regulations, speculation has been rife in the construction industry about what the details of the updated regulations would entail. Jeff Colley examines some of the key parts of a regulatory improvement that will help the Irish construction industry to modernise and meet the demands of a rapidly changing world.
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Official magazine of Easca  |
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Renewable Energy
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Page 6 of 7
In addition to the price at which he buys the additional power, he pays for the use of the distribution grid to carry what he buys to his customer. And, even though none of his electricity would go through the transmissions grid's high-voltage lines if the electrons he put into the system actually found their way to his customer, he also has to pay e800 a month for the use of the transmission system. “They tell me I've got to pay because I need the transmission grid to excite my generator” he says. On top of this, he pays a capacity charge because he's drawing more electricity from the system than he puts in. If he was just generating power and not supplying it, he would be paid a capacity charge simply for providing the system with a source of power it could draw upon if ever it was required. “Even with the two new turbines, I'm still going to have to buy in electricity each summer because I have an agreement with the Fisheries Board that I close down in July and August” he says.
“It was quite a business setting it all up” he adds, “but I felt I had to do it because I've been installing waterpower systems for 25 years and I wanted to be able to tell my customers what they should do if they ever wished to become a licensed supplier.”
John Fingleton of Fingleton, White and Co. of Portlaoise, has a lot of experience in designing and installing CHP systems. He thinks that it's not really worthwhile installing a district heating system if the houses involved are well insulated. “The insulation spoils the economics” he says. A group of buildings with a high heat demand or a manufacturing plant that needs process heat is a different matter and it could well be worth installing a CHP plant and selling its electricity to the grid. “There's no difficulty doing it and, if you are using biomass as your source of heat, you can sell your electricity at a fixed price of 7.2 cents/kWh if you wish, which includes the 15% REFIT premium.”
(left to right) NI Energy Minister, Nigel Dodds, ROI Energy Minister, Eamon Ryan and EU Energy Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, marking the successful completion of the Single Electricity Market. Photo: Aaron McCracken/Harrison Photography
Since this is scarcely generous - it is around half the gross price Twomey receives - Fingleton would like to see CHP producers get a better deal, as they may do when net metering comes into operation. “If your maximum power export capacity is greater than the amount of power you would ever import, the standing charges on your electricity bill are reduced below the level you would pay if you simply bought your power” he says. “But CHP generators don't get paid for strengthening the grid if the supply is weak in their area. They also don't get paid for the capacity they add to the grid which other generators receive.”
Peter Keavney also thinks that there are good prospects for “auto-producers” who generate enough power to meet the base loads of their factories and sell any surplus to the grid. He is hoping to install a 750kW wind turbine at Galway's new sewage treatment works at Mutton Island to do this. “It will meet 56% of the plant's electricity requirement and save e250,000 a year” he says. “Because we can't supply more than 499kW to the grid, we'll have to put a braking mechanism on the turbine for the times when there's a strong wind and the plant doesn't need a lot of power.”
The government hopes that the combined effect of smart meters and varying the price paid to generators according to the level of demand will be to make electricity production more fossil energy efficient. That's obviously desirable but price differentials cannot control the amount of electricity that will be produced at any moment by the wind. Unless something is done, electricity from this source is going to be an embarrassment to the system at least until the projected trans-European grid linking wind farms from the west coast of Ireland through to the coast of Finland is completed, and it can be exported. And perhaps even then.
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Issue 1, Vol 5 Out Now
The new look issue of Construct Ireland is available now. Click here to subscribe online and have the latest issue delivered to your doorstep
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