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NUMBER 479
Contents March 2019

Email
e: eworld@energyinst.org
Front cover IN THIS ISSUE…
Editor
Steve Hodgson
t/f: +44 (0)1298 77601 Reducing energy It’s time to focus on energy efficiency
stevehodgson@btinternet.com
e: shodgson@energyinst.org demand – see again. As the opening article on page 14
Deputy Editor
Assistant Editor page 14 onwards says, it’s essential that the UK reduces its
Jennifer Johnson for articles energy demand considerably, even on top
t: +44 (0)20 7467 7152 on energy of historical progress, as climate politics
e: jjohnson@energyinst.org management demand this. This is followed by a piece on
Production
Digital Officer
Officer technology, the government’s published list of energy
Yvonne
Elliot Laas
Tawney savings with
t: +44 (0)20 7467 7117 efficient technologies – why look elsewhere?
ylaas@energyinst.org
e: etawney@energyinst.org power quality and We also include articles on energy
ESOS 2. management in the manufacturing
enquires
General enquiries
t: +44 (0)20 7467 7100 Photo: Shutterstock sector; the return of the Energy Savings
e: info@energyinst.org Opportunities Scheme (ESOS) and the scope
Advertising for cutting energy use by improving power
For advertising opportunities quality.
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contact:Alexander
please contact
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News & regulars Our second feature covers low carbon
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sponsorship@energyinst.org futures, starting with a survey of progress
e: patrick.lynn@redactive.co.uk being made around the world with carbon
Magazine subscriptions 2 From the editor capture, use and storage and its attendant
Magazine
Chris Bakersubscriptions
MEI
Chris
t: +44Baker
(0)20 MEI
7467 7114 new technologies. Subsequent articles
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f: +44 (0)20 7255 1472 around the flow of carbon dioxide, and
Membership
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For all membership enquiries please 7 Viewpoint the importance of science-based emission
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Forvisit
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www.energyinst.org 8 UK update The issue also contains the second of EI
contact e: membership@energyinst.org
or visit www.energyinst.org President Malcolm Brinded’s contributions,
12 EI news this time on priorities for UK energy
research; and the first in a new series
of articles from EI Young Professionals
Networks. Plus UK and international update
pages, and two opinion pieces.

Features
Energy management Energy Institute
14 Energy demand in the energy 24 A lack of energy tax hurts the
transition majority
Professor Nick Eyre FEI Ewan Frost-Pennington

16 How to guarantee high performing 26 Priorities for UK energy research

technology Malcolm Brinded CBE, FREng, EI President
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Opinion

FROM THE EDITOR

Global energy transition

points to a new geopolitics
D
riven by renewables, the
fundamental changes
taking place in the global
energy system – though variable
and patchy – nevertheless add up
to an irresistible energy transition.
No doubt. But has anyone really
studied the likely effects on
geopolitics? Not yet, according to a
new report from the International
Renewable Energy Agency
Steve Hodgson, (IRENA) which, with the support
Editor of the governments of Germany,
Norway and the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) has established
what it calls a Global Commission
on the Geopolitics of Energy
Transformation to do just that.
With its headquarters in the
gas-rich UAE, IRENA is in a good
position to observe the transition
from fossil fuels to wind, solar and
biomass. The Commission’s initial
report: A New World, suggests that
the geopolitical and socio-
economic consequences of current
changes may be as profound as
those which accompanied the
switch from biomass to fossil fuels
two centuries ago.
And it’s all about power shifts
– towards an international energy
economy based on decentralised
and diffuse renewables, where the
supply of energy will no longer be
the preserve of a small number of
countries.
Unlike fossil fuels, renewable
The views and opinions energy sources are available in one
expressed in this
article are those of the form or another in most
editor only and are not geographic locations, says the
necessarily given or report, and this abundance will
endorsed by or on behalf
of the Energy Institute. strengthen energy security and
promote greater energy
independence for many states. At
the same time, as countries begin
to integrate their electricity grids
with those of neighbouring
countries, new interdependencies
and trade patterns will emerge.
The report suggests that oil and
gas-related conflict may decline, as
will the strategic importance of
some maritime chokepoints.
Further, there will be a
fundamental shift of power
politics. Large investments in
renewable energy technologies
will strengthen the influence of
some countries, says the report.
China, for instance, has already
enhanced its geopolitical standing
by taking the lead in becoming the
world’s largest producer, exporter
and installer of solar panels, wind
turbines, batteries and electric
vehicles. Meanwhile, states that
rely heavily on fossil fuel exports
may see a decline in their global
reach and influence.
The renewables revolution will,
says the Global Commission, see
the emergence of new energy
leaders, more diverse energy
actors, changed trade relationships
and the beginning of new
alliances. Grand stuff indeed – but
of course energy has been central
to geopolitics since that switch to
fossil fuels.
Moving on, the UK’s own energy
system has been in transition for
some years now, so here’s a
question. Which has done more to
reduce the UK’s carbon emissions
over the last nearly 20 years: the
ongoing switch away from coal
and towards renewables and gas in
electricity generation, or reduced
consumption by industry and
business through energy efficiency
and changes to industrial practice?
It’s the former, according to
analysis from Carbon Brief, but not
by far.
According its figures, overall UK
carbon emissions were 38% lower
in 2017 than they were in 1990.
Of the reduction, cleaner electricity
generation contributed 36% of the
total, and reduced fuel
consumption by industry and
business added a further 31%.
Reduced electricity use across the
sectors was responsible for 18% of
the total.
So, as is often reported on these
pages, an electricity generation
transition is well-established in the
UK, and energy efficiency gains
across the sectors have been
significant (though patterns of
industrial energy have also
changed, often from heavy to
lighter users). It’s the transport
sector where carbon dioxide
emissions have barely moved. As
other sectors have reduced their
emissions, the otherwise
reasonably steady contribution
from transport has risen from
being 21% of the total, to 34% in
2017. Alternative, low carbon
technologies are much younger in
the transport sector. There’s much
to do.
The article on page 14 on the
scope for reducing energy demand
tells you all you need to know
about how low the UK needs to go
– transport sector included.

Also
in thi
s issu
e:
erg y
ism
from e
Optim ring ma
recove ic sector
rin
w en
A ne ead
lies ah
ergy ord
er

March
2019
In this month’s Petroleum Review:
for UK en seism
ties
Priori ch ls

• Middle East region embracing the energy transition

resear fessiona
fuels pro
new
and
, gas
for oil
zine
maga
The

• Optimism from recovering marine seismic survey sector

• Priorities for UK energy research
• A new energy order lies ahead
ads
ossro
gy cr bracingerthgye enmerix Petroleum Review is the monthly sister publication to Energy World, covering
gy

Ener
Middl
The tion, dive
is em
e East ifying its
rs
en
Maga
zine
of the
all aspects of the international oil and gas industry. As an EI member,
si
tran
you can subscribe to Petroleum Review for £55, saving up to £435.

For more information visit www.energyinst.org

2 Energy World | March 2019

 InternationalUpdate

German ‘coal commission’ unveils plan to

phase out coal by 2038
Three coal-dependent regions and many businesses may be compensated as Germany inches away from burning black
and brown coal

G
ermany’s Commission on
Coal, Growth, Structural
Change and Employment
– often known as the ‘coal
commission’ – has unveiled plans
to shut each of the country’s 84
remaining coal power stations by
2038 at the latest.
Last year, 38% of Germany’s
power production came from coal
burning, according to the
Fraunhofer Institute, making the
country one of the last in north-
western Europe to be heavily
reliant on the fossil fuel.
The new target, which is still
subject to approval by the German
federal government, is intended to
help the country get back on track
with its existing climate pledges. In
a draft government report issued
last summer, officials admitted
that the country will only be able
to reduce its greenhouse gas
emissions by 32% by the end of the
decade. It had originally set itself
the goal of reducing emissions by
40%, compared to 1990 levels, by
2020.
The coal commission’s report
stipulates that 12.5 GW of coal-
fired generation must go offline by
2022. This is the equivalent of 24
large power stations. By 2030, just
9 GW of coal power will be
permitted on the network – down
from over 45 GW of capacity today.
The commission has also
recommended that three regions
with coal-dependent economies,
North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony
and Brandenburg, receive financial
help in moving away from the
fossil fuel. It suggested that €1.3bn
is allocated each year for 20 years
to aid the transition.
However, RWE, the utility that
operates many of Germany’s coal
power stations, has warned that
the proposals are ‘very ambitious’.
‘The implementation of the
commission’s proposals would
represent a structural political tour
de force for the regions concerned,’
says a statement from the
company. ‘The committee has
presented a comprehensive
catalogue of measures to cope with
this task. This can be considered a
good first step. However,
successfully managing structural
change is a task for decades.’
Germany is the world’s
largest producer and burner
of lignite, or ‘brown coal’,
which is responsible for
around 20% of the country’s
greenhouse gas emissions
Photo: RWE
The new target,
which is still
subject to
approval by the
German federal
government, is
intended to help
the country get
back on track
with its existing
climate pledges
The coal commission report
suggests that the German
government deploys an additional
€2bn every year to help businesses
and individuals cope with the
increased electricity prices that
could result from coal plant
closures.
Germany currently burns plenty
of conventional coal and is also the
world’s largest producer and
burner of lignite, or ‘brown coal’,
which is, in turn, responsible for
around 20% of the country’s
greenhouse gas emissions.
According to Reuters, renewables
overtook coal as Germany’s main
source of energy for the first time
in 2018, with 40% of electricity
coming from either wind, solar or
hydropower.
Analysis by climate website
Carbon Brief has shown that even
if the German government
approves the coal commission’s
plan, it could still breach a Paris
Agreement-compatible pathway
by over 1bn tonnes of carbon
dioxide. This is because coal
capacity would barely fall faster
than a business-as-usual scenario
over the next ten years, during
which time many power stations
will retire due to old age, the
research says.

Fuel cell for Israeli hospital

GenCell energy, a manufacturer of fuel cell energy solutions,
has installed a hydrogen-based uninterrupted power supply
(UPS) unit within a cardiac ward at a hospital in Hadera, Israel.
The company says this is the first fuel cell to be used
within a hospital environment in the country. The G5 Long-
Duration UPS will replace diesel generators on the ward
– where long and complex diagnostic procedures such as
cardiac catheterisation require imaging devices and computer
equipment with high power load demands.
The fuel cell is designed to prevent even the slightest
interruptions to power flow while eliminating the possibility
of damage to crucial technology or interruptions to surgical
procedures. It will also reduce emissions associated with the
use of diesel generators.
The hospital now plans to install additional G5 units
to backup other sensitive and critical medical devices and
systems. This effectively creates a microgrid within the facility
that will increase its independence from the grid and ensure
an uninterrupted power supply.  Photo: GenCell

Energy World | March 2019 3

 InternationalUpdate

Corporate clean energy buying hits record

high in 2018
Corporations are purchasing record amounts of renewable energy as they strive to keep their sustainability promises

C
orporations purchased a
record 13.4 GW of clean
energy through long-term
contracts last year, more than
double the total for 2017, according
to a Bloomberg New Energy Finance
(BNEF)’s 1H 2019 Corporate Energy
Market Outlook.
Since 2008, corporations have
signed contracts to purchase more
than 32 GW of clean power – an
amount comparable to the entire
generation capacity of the
Netherlands. Over 40% of this
activity took place in 2018 alone.
According to BNEF, more than
60% of corporate clean energy
buying in 2018 occurred in the US,
where companies signed power
purchase agreements (PPAs) to
acquire a total of 8.5 GW of
renewable power. Facebook was the
single largest US buyer with over
2.6 GW of clean energy purchased
for the company’s operations,
primarily with utilities in regulated
US markets via green tariff
programmes.
Another major feature of clean
energy purchasing in the US was
the emergence of small, first-time
buyers. Some 34 new companies
signed their first clean energy PPAs
last year – making up 31% of total
activity in the country, says BNEF.
These smaller firms are
aggregating their electricity
demand to benefit from the
economies of scale that accompany
larger wind and solar projects. In
many cases, the small firms
partnered with a bigger and more
experienced buyer – known as an
anchor tenant – which can offer
legal and administrative support in
the PPA process.
‘The aggregation model has
heralded in a new generation of
corporate clean energy buyers,’ says
BNEF Corporate Sustainability
Analyst Kyle Harrison. ‘These
companies no longer need to tackle
the complexities of clean energy
procurement alone. They can share
risks associated with credit and
energy market volatility with their
peers.’
In the Europe, Middle East and
Africa (EMEA) region, corporations
also purchased record-high
quantities of clean energy. Deals for
a total of 2.3 GW were signed –
more than double the 1.1 GW inked
in 2017.
Aluminium producers Norsk
Hydro and Alcoa Corp purchased the
most clean energy in Europe in
2018, but the region also saw
activity from multinational
technology giants, including
Facebook, Amazon and Google.
In the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region
– where the corporate procurement
market is fairly immature –
companies signed a record 2 GW of
clean energy PPAs. Most of this Since 2008,
activity was centred in India and corporations
Australia, which purchased 1.3 GW have signed
and 0.7 GW of clean power,
respectively.
contracts to
Global clean energy procurement purchase more
is predicted to grow further as than 32 GW of
companies make bolder and clean power – an
wider-reaching commitments to the
environment. RE100 is one of the
amount
largest corporate sustainability comparable to
campaigns to date – consisting of the entire
almost 160 companies that have set generation
100% renewable electricity targets.
BNEF has estimated that these
capacity of the
companies will need to buy an Netherlands
additional 190 TWh of clean
electricity in 2030 to meet their
RE100 targets. Should this shortfall
be met with off-site solar and wind
PPAs, it would catalyse an estimated
102 GW of new solar and wind build
globally, greater than the size of the
UK’s power generation fleet in 2017.
‘For companies that think
seriously about sustainable growth,
establishing clean energy and
decarbonisation targets lines up
naturally with overall corporate
strategies,’ says Jonas Rooze, Head of
Corporate Sustainability for BNEF.
‘At the same time, these initiatives
have created an entire new universe
of opportunity for utilities, clean
energy developers and investors.’

Transport

Rail being left out of decarbonisation discussions: IEA

Rail is one of the least carbon-intensive modes of transport for both
freight and passengers, yet it is too often ‘neglected’ in public debates,
says a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The report, The Future of Rail, explores a base scenario that projects
the growth of global railways to 2050 on the basis of known policies,
projects and regulations. It also includes a ‘high rail’ scenario to
demonstrate the energy and environmental advantages of shifting
more people and goods to rail transport.
While the high rail pathway requires some 60% more investment
than the base scenario, global carbon emissions from transport would
peak in the late 2030s if rail infrastructure was aggressively and
strategically deployed, the report says. By 2050, oil use in the high rail
scenario would be more than 10mn barrels per day lower than the
base scenario and both greenhouse gas (GHG) and particulate matter
emissions would be reduced.
If all of the services currently performed by railways worldwide
were carried out by road vehicles – such as cars and trucks – then the
world’s transport-related oil consumption would be 15% higher, the IEA
reports. Consequently, transport-related GHG emissions would increase
by 1.2 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon dioxide equivalent each year. As a
point of comparison, the UK emitted roughly 0.4 Gt of carbon dioxide
equivalent in the year 2017.
Today, rail consumes just 2% of total transport energy demand
worldwide and is also the most electrified of all transport sectors –
with three-quarters of passenger movements and half of freight relying
on electricity. The IEA believes that this means the rail sector is uniquely
positioned to take advantage of the growing role of renewables in the
energy mix.
The report notes that rising incomes and populations in the world’s
developing and emerging economies – where cities are growing rapidly
– will create demand for faster and cleaner modes of transportation.
However, the need for speed and flexibility have historically meant that
car ownership and air travel are preferred. Meanwhile, rising incomes
have driven demand growth in the freight sector as consumers seek
fast deliveries of lighter, higher-value goods.
The IEA cites urban and high-speed rail networks as crucial pieces
of infrastructure in a rapidly urbanising world. Metro and light rail can
reduce local road congestion – and associated emissions – while high-
speed rail could come to replace short-distance, intracontinental flights.
But whether the world comes to resemble the report’s base scenario, or
the high rail scenario, depends largely on investment, improvements in
technology and the will of policymakers.

4 Energy World | March 2019


Number of electric cars on global roads
rises 64% year-on-year
China, the US and Norway lead the way, while research in Europe suggests electric cars are cheaper to own and operate
than conventional models
T
he number of electric cars
(e-cars) worldwide has risen to
5.6mn in early 2019 – up 64%
from last year – with China and the
US largely driving this steep growth,
according to a study from the Centre
for Solar Energy and Hydrogen
Research Baden-Württemberg
(ZSW).
Scientists at the Centre
exclusively counted passenger cars
and light commercial vehicles with
battery-powered electric drives,
range extenders and plug-in
hybrids. They did not include full or
mild hybrids in their survey, nor
vehicles equipped with fuel cell
technology.
At present, China leads in terms
of total electric vehicle count and
new registrations – with some
2.6mn e-cars present on its roads.
The fleet nearly doubled last year
thanks to almost 1.3mn new
registrations. The US took second
place in the rankings with 1.1mn
e-cars, including the 361,000 cars
that were registered in 2018.
Norway took third place with
86,000 new registrations last year,
bringing its electric vehicle total to
298,000. One in two new passenger
cars in the country is electrically
powered, making Norway the world
leader in terms of EVs per capita. In
comparison, e-cars make up around
5% of new vehicle registrations in
China and only 2% in the US.
Researchers at ZSW found that
Tesla accounted for the largest
number of new registrations
worldwide with almost 234,000 cars
– followed by Chinese
manufacturers BYD and BAIC with
216,000 and 161,000, respectively.
The most successful model of
e-car to date is the Nissan Leaf, with
364,000 registrations, followed by
the Tesla Model S with 243,000.
German carmakers are notably
absent from the top of the rankings.
The country’s best-selling EV is the
BMW i3, which came in tenth with
109,000 registrations.
ZSW believes that policymakers
need to offer more incentives to
strengthen domestic EV markets,
particularly in Germany, while
simultaneously achieving emissions
reductions. ‘As part of this, they
should also consider introducing a
carbon price component for fuels so
electricity becomes a more
attractive alternative than
conventional fuels in
transportation,’ says Professor
Frithjof Staiß, Managing Director of
the ZSW.
A separate report from the
International Council for Clean
Transportation (ICCT) released in
February found that e-cars are
already cheaper to own and run
than their petrol or diesel
InternationalUpdate
counterparts in five European
e-cars are countries – the UK, Germany,
already cheaper France, the Netherlands and
to own and run Norway.
The study examined the
than their petrol purchase, fuel and tax costs of the
or diesel VW Golf, the EU’s best-selling car, in
counterparts in its petrol, diesel, hybrid and
five European battery-electric incarnations. ICCT
researchers found that the pure
countries – the electric version was cheaper over
UK, Germany, the course of four years because of a
France, the combination of lower taxes, fuel
Netherlands and costs and subsidies on purchase
price in the five countries analysed.
Norway The ICCT has recommended that
policymakers worldwide
incentivise the purchase of e-cars
through taxation schemes. The
organisation’s suggestions include:
• creating tax advantages for
low-emission vehicles at the
point of purchase;
• ensuring ongoing tax benefits
for low-emission vehicles
during their working lives;
• accounting for the emissions of
a vehicle as part of a company-
car tax system; and
• ensuring that high-emission
vehicles generate enough tax
revenue to provide tax breaks
for low-emission cars.
Switzerland’s solar supermarket
Coop, the largest supermarket chain in Switzerland, has
undertaken a comprehensive solar power installation
drive as it aims to become carbon neutral. Between
2008 and 2023, the company has vowed to cut its total
energy consumption by 20%, increase the proportion of
renewable energy it uses to 80% and halve its carbon
dioxide emissions.
Last year, the grocery chain launched a project to put
20,000 m2 of new solar capacity in place on its corporate
and retail locations. Coop now powers 35 of its facilities
using solar power, 19 of which are grocery stores.
‘Powering a grocery store is energy intensive,’ says
David Guthörl, Head of Energy in the sustainability unit at
Coop. ‘Around 60% of a store’s energy consumption goes
into cooling chilled and frozen foods and drinks using
refrigerators and freezers. Around 10% goes to lighting
and 30% to other things like heating and ventilation.’
Coop says it has been able to supply 90% of its
electricity combining its solar PV system with other
sustainability measures, such as an ice-based ground
thermal-energy transfer system that gives us cheaper
electricity costs for chillers and to mitigate high energy
demand during peak times. Photo: ABB
Energy World | March 2019 5
 InternationalUpdate

Gas dominates new generating capacity

in the US
Gas-fired generating capacity installed in 2018 was nearly double the equivalent figure for renewables

N
atural gas dominated new
electricity generating
capacity commissioned in
the US last year, according to data
released by the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) –
but renewables are poised to make
a serious impact as new capacity
comes online in the next three
years.
FERC’s Energy Infrastructure
Update notes that new natural gas
generation placed in service in
2018 totalled 20,000 MW – or 65%
of new generating capacity. Sources
other than fossil fuels – including
biomass, geothermal, hydropower,
wind and solar – accounted for
10,000 MW, or 34%.
The remaining 1.4% was
provided by nuclear (350 MW),
waste heat (51 MW), oil (25 MW),
coal (10 MW), and ‘other’ sources of
energy (5 MW).
Separate data released by the US
Energy Information Administration
(EIA) in late January show that
decreasing demand for coal in the
US has led to much lower
production of the fossil fuel. More
than half of the US coal mines
operating in 2008 have now closed,
the EIA says. The closures come at a
time of renewed support for coal on
behalf of the Trump
Administration.
The President himself has most
recently been involved in a
campaign to keep a 49 year-old coal
plant in Tennessee open, despite
the fact that it is no longer needed
to provided baseload power. On 11
February, Trump tweeted that the
plant’s owner, the Tennessee Valley
Authority, should ‘give serious
consideration to all factors before
voting to close viable power plants’.
Meanwhile, Congresswoman Decreasing
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and demand for coal
Senator Ed Markey, both in the US has led
Democrats, have recently
introduced an economic stimulus
to much lower
package aimed at addressing both production of
climate change and social the fossil fuel
inequality in the US. The ‘Green – more than half
New Deal’ does not contain policy
details, but it does vow to meet
of the US coal
power demand using ‘clean, mines operating
renewable and zero emissions in 2008 have
energy sources’. now closed
The plan, which would target
carbon neutrality in the US by
2030, is likely to go to the Senate
floor for a vote, according to Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
However, McConnell’s goal is not to
enable the bill to pass, but to force
Democrats to take a stand on its
bold targets.

Onshore wind

Africa, Middle East could more than double onshore

wind by 2023
Data released by the Global Wind Energy power to the grid in September. The project, the region in 2018. According to GWEC,
Council (GWEC) shows that the Middle the single largest private investment in the Middle East is likely to make significant
East and Africa installed 962 MW of new the country’s history, covers 160 km2 and strides in the coming years, as countries in
onshore wind capacity last year – an comprises 365 turbines. the region have recently started to make
increase of more than 300 MW compared With 120 MW installed, Morocco was significant investments in wind power
to 2017. the third-largest onshore wind market in production.
After two years with lower installations,
the regions have almost reached similar
levels as in 2015 (983 MW). The figures –
drawn from GWEC’s forthcoming annual
Global Wind Report – forecast a further
capacity increase of 6.5 GW by 2023. There
is currently a total of 5.7 GW of onshore
wind capacity installed across both regions.
Egypt was the top onshore wind market
in Africa and the Middle East last year,
with a total of 380 MW installed. Siemens
Gamesa is involved in a number of large
projects in the country, most notably at the
Gulf of Suez wind farm, where it is currently
installing 125 of its 1 MW turbines.
To date, Siemens Gamesa has installed
more than 890 MW of onshore wind
capacity in Egypt. The 262 MW Gulf of Suez
project is expected to be operational by the
end of this year. Egypt’s government has
set renewable energy targets of 20% of the
electricity mix by 2022 and 42% by 2035.
Kenya was the second largest onshore
wind market in Africa and the Middle East
Kenya’s Lake Turkana wind farm is the single largest private investment in the country’s history
last year, with 310 MW added when the
Lake Turkana wind farm began exporting  Photo: Lake Turkana Wind Power

6 Energy World | March 2019


VIEWPOINT
How utilities can
help ‘prosumers’ to
save energy
T
he UK has made enormous
strides in lowering carbon
emissions and improving
efficiency across its major
industries. Yet, the elephant in the
room is getting harder to ignore.
The latest UK Environmental
Accounts show that British
consumers are now the country’s
largest emitters of greenhouse
gases (GHG). Overtaking the
energy supply sector, they
created a quarter of the UK’s GHG
emissions in 2016.
More troubling is that few
British consumers are planning to
change their ways. Research by
Schneider Electric revealed that
16% of respondents – equivalent to
about 10.2mn UK residents – have
no intention of curbing their
energy consumption.
In a time of decentralisation and
decommissioning, where power
plants are being shut down and the
UK grid network is becoming more
localised, utilities and operators
will need all the help and insight
they can get to keep their networks
balanced and running smoothly. If
we are serious about conserving
energy and improving our national
efficiency, then utilities need to
help their customers take greater
responsibility for their energy
usage.
Part of the solution lies with the
country’s growing ‘prosumer’
movement. The term prosumer
describes a growing number of
energy users who are more
proactive about how they measure,
use and even generate the energy
they consume. Modern energy
consumers want the reliable
availability of power and
technologies that give them more
control over their energy – how it is
produced, how much they need and
how much they use, with many
producing their own and selling it
back to the grid.
Through financial incentives
and the latest connected
technology, everyday consumers
can be turned into smarter, more
sustainable consumers who can
Opinion
system, conscious consumers can
maximise the self-consumption of
this energy. This will extend their
energy flexibility by gaining more
control over when they are able to
use it. Building their own microgrid
in this way also gives consumers a
green energy reserve that can keep
critical loads or processes running
during short-term blackouts. When
demand is high, prosumers can also
sell unused energy held in their
batteries back to the grid, which
utilities can make use of to balance
help balance supply and demand
their network.
on the country’s networks.
Interconnected technologies
Savvy consumers
For consumers, new, interconnected
Reducing consumption does
technologies can satisfy the desire
not need to be a tiresome
for greater control over their energy
inconvenience. All that is needed is
usage. It can also turn them from
that consumers make more efficient
passive into active participants
use of energy and explore well-
embedded within the energy
established, increasingly affordable
infrastructure. However, consumers
alternatives, such as LED lights and
must first be encouraged and
smart meters. An impact can clearly
empowered by energy suppliers
David Hall is Vice be made by encouraging consumers
and given the right information and
President Power to be savvier and reduce the waste
tools. This includes the provision of
Systems, UK&I, at energy they expend.
advanced metering infrastructure,
Schneider Electric A consumer’s reasons for
smart metering technology, and
becoming a conscious consumer
the implementation of automated
can be many, complex and highly
demand response services.
personal. Yet, to grow the
These tools and services allow
movement, we should also be
utilities to help their customers
incentivising conversion.
identify and implement energy
Fortunately, British energy users are
efficient projects to reduce their
willing and open to such
energy consumption and bills. This
encouragement. Indeed, when
can also provide utilities with a
Schneider Electric asked what
competitive edge, increasing
would motivate them to reduce
customer satisfaction, loyalty and
their energy consumption at home,
retention, reducing delayed
42% of respondents cited financial
repayments and creating new
incentives.
markets for potential services.
Utilities have been very
Yet, they also enable providers to
successful at incentivising
orchestrate and manage energy
homeowners to reduce energy
consumption, increasing or
consumption and generate their
decreasing demand where needed
own. As part of smart grid
through lower pricing structures
modernisations, programmes have
and automated demand response to
been launched or expanded that
mitigate peak power. Ultimately,
encourage energy customers to
they allow utilities to provide more
adjust their consumption in
reliable power where and when it is
response to pricing signals. A
most needed, as well as make better
customer’s energy-consuming loads
use of their existing assets and add
and any on-site energy generation
new low-cost systems to their
capabilities are now considered
portfolios as opposed to the
important distributed energy
expensive construction of new
resources. At peak times, these are
energy sources.
critical to helping balance the grid.
The impact of the average,
An increasing number of homes
everyday consumer is too often
and businesses can also be
ignored. Individual action, whether
encouraged to produce solar or
motivated out of concern or a desire
wind-based electricity on-site.
to make things better, can make a
Many have moved to self-
huge difference. l
generation naturally, either to
reduce their carbon footprint or
offset high grid energy costs. Yet,
The views and opinions expressed in this
with the presence of government article are strictly those of the author
support, uptake can be substantially only and are not necessarily given or
boosted. endorsed by or on behalf of the Energy
Institute.
By adding an energy storage
Energy World | March 2019 7
 UKUpdate

One more coal plant goes down – EDF’s

2 GW Cottam plant to close
Challenging market conditions continue to squeeze coal-fired generators out of the electricity system

F
ifty years of generation at the
2,000 MW coal-fired power
station at Cottam in North
Nottinghamshire will end on 30
September, as a result of the drive
to decarbonise the electricity
sector.
The decision reflects the
challenging market conditions
over the last few years – Cottam is
understood to have no power sales
contracts in place for beyond
September. The company is to start
consultation with trade union
partners and employee
representatives at the plant, with
some employees already
transferred to alternative roles
within EDF Energy.
Cottam Plant Manager Andy
Powell said: ‘When the power
station was built it was designed to
operate for 30 years. It’s a credit to
our people, the engineering and
EDF Energy’s investment that it has
operated for more than 50. There
has been an aspiration to move
away from coal for a long time
now and we have prepared
thoroughly for the closure.’
EDF Energy currently operates
the Cottam and nearby West
Burton A coal power stations in
North Nottinghamshire, each with
a generating capacity of 2,000 MW.
West Burton A has capacity
agreements in place for three of its
four units until the end of
September 2021. EDF Energy says it ‘When the power station was built it was
is committed to honouring these designed to operate for 30 years – it’s a credit to
agreements and will review the our people, the engineering and EDF Energy’s
future of that station beyond that
date.
investment that it has operated for more than 50’
Analysis by the CarbonBrief
Andy Powell, EDF Energy
website suggest that closure of
Cottam will leave just four UK
coal-fired power stations – Ratcliffe
in Nottinghamshire; remaining
coal-fired units at Drax, Yorkshire;
West Burton in Lincolnshire; and
Aberthawe B, South Wales –
operating, mostly with capacity
market contracts, next winter.
Mike MacDonald, Negotiations
Officer with trade union Prospect,
said that proper planning for a
smoother transition by the
government would have avoided
the move: ‘When the capacity
market was suspended last year,
Prospect warned that it had the
potential to put jobs at risk; the
loss of 300 jobs at Cottam, both
direct staff and contractors, proves
the point. The government must The 2 GW coal-fired plant at invest in and to operate low carbon
Cottam in more active days
not let its current paralysis in the generation, including nuclear and
 Photo: EDF Energy
face of Brexit stop it from setting renewables, and to invest in
out a clear strategy to deal with the battery storage such as its 49 MW
country’s urgent need for new project at the nearby West Burton
capacity… the loss of generation site. Alongside this is the West
without any plan for its Burton B CCGT, the company’s only
replacement is not in the public gas-fired power station, which has
interest.’ three units with a combined
EDF Energy says it continues to output capacity of 1,332 MW.

Shale gas

Seismic events limit Lancashire shale gas tests

Shale gas company Cuadrilla has announced ‘highly encouraging’
initial gas flow test results from its Preston New Road exploration
site in Lancashire, while also requesting that the government’s Oil
and Gas Authority (OGA) reviews the system of monitoring seismic
activity at the site that has severely limited its activities.
Cuadrilla said that the drilling, hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and
flow testing of the first, 2.3 km deep, horizontal well: ‘confirmed
that there is a rich reservoir of recoverable high-quality natural gas
present.’
However, the micro-seismic operating limit imposed during
hydraulic fracturing, set at 0.5 on the Richter Scale, had however
severely constrained the volume of sand that could be injected into
the shale rock, said the company. Chief Executive Officer Francis Egan
added: ‘We have only partially tested this well, with just two out of
the forty-one stages installed along the horizontal section fractured
fully as designed, and less than 14% of the sand we had planned to
inject into the shale rock put in place.’
‘Nonetheless the natural gas still flowed back from the shale at
a peak rate of over 200,000 standard cubic feet per day (cf/d) and a
stable rate of some 100,000 cf/day,’ added Egan.
The company confirmed that it has requested the OGA to urgently
review the ‘Traffic light System’ (TLS) to enable the exploration wells
to be properly tested and produced effectively.
Egan said: ‘Cuadrilla and its investors remain committed to this
opportunity. The potential for Lancashire and the UK has again been
clearly demonstrated by the fracturing and flow-testing carried out
at Preston New Road. We look forward to completing the job. All
we ask now is that we are treated fairly, with comparable seismic
and ground vibration levels to similar industries in Lancashire and
elsewhere in the UK who are able to work safely but more effectively
with significantly higher thresholds for seismicity and ground
vibration.’
Cuadrilla says it has now shut in the well and will monitor build-
up as it continues to assess the results.

8 Energy World | March 2019

 UKUpdate

Universities share funding for research

into distributed renewables
ReNU researchers will work on technology to charge the growing number of small devices

T
he Engineering and Physical
Sciences Research Council
has awarded £5.2mn to
Northumbria, Newcastle and
Durham Universities to open a
new national Centre for Doctoral
Training in renewable energies.
Industry partners have contributed
further, taking the total project
value to approximately £11mn,
says Northumbria University.
To be known as ReNU, the
EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training
in Renewable Energy Northeast
Universities will train 65 PhD
students across the three
universities over the next five
years. The four-year course
includes an in-built mini-MBA
qualification, intellectual property
training and a two-week
placement in China studying
renewable energy at a leading
academic institution.
The next revolution within the
energy sector will be in providing
sustainable distributed power
sources, says the University, with
an estimated 40bn or more smart
and interconnected devices, such
as smartphones, tablets and Fitbits
in use by 2024, all of which will
need to be charged frequently.
Further growth is expected in
devices such new forms of
unmanned electric transportation
and medical technologies that can
monitor and treat patients at
home.
Researchers at ReNU will be
working to create and develop new
materials and devices that will
convert energy into power at the
point of use. Their goal is to
develop new materials that can be
mass-produced, making them
sustainable and inexpensive to
use.
One such example is work
already being undertaken by Dr
Neil Beattie at the ReNU centre at
Northumbria University – he is
currently investigating how to
produce a specialist form of paint
that could be sprayed onto cars or
rooftops to generate solar energy
at any location.
Northumbria, Newcastle and
Durham universities already work
in partnership on the £1.8mn
North East Centre for Energy
Materials (NECEM). Funded by
EPSRC and the Industrial Strategy
Challenge Fund, NECEM unites the
range of expertise in engineering,
chemistry, biology and physics to
research and develop new
high-performance materials that
will improve efficiency in energy
generation, storage and
The four-year
transmission. course includes
Meanwhile, a new Hub led by an in-built
the University of Sheffield is mini-MBA
combining expertise in electrical
machines and manufacturing for
qualification,
the first time, aiming to put the UK intellectual
at the forefront of an electrification property
revolution. training and a
A £28mn investment,
underpinned by a £10mn award
two-week
from the EPSRC, will enable placement in
researchers from the new EPSRC China studying
Future Electrical Machines renewable
Manufacturing Hub to work with
industry on addressing
energy at a
manufacturing challenges, leading
designing new electrical machines academic
with improved performance for institution
the aerospace, energy, automotive
and premium consumer sectors.
With funding from industrial
partners including Rolls Royce,
Airbus, Siemens Gamesa, GKN
Aerospace, McLaren and Dyson, the
team, led by the University of
Sheffield’s Faculty of Engineering
and Advanced Manufacturing
Research Centre (AMRC), will work
with academics at Newcastle
University and the Advanced
Forming Research Centre in
Strathclyde.

First blade for East Anglia

ONE windfarm
Production of the first wind
turbine blade for the East
Anglia ONE offshore wind
farm represents a significant
milestone for the project,
to be located 43 km off the
Suffolk coast, says developer
ScottishPower Renewables.
The fibre glass blade has
been manufactured at
Siemens Gamesa’s state-of-
the-art factory at Green Port
Hull.
The £2.5bn East Anglia
ONE project will see 102
Siemens Gamesa turbines
deployed, each with a
generating capacity of 7 MW.
The blades will be shipped
down the coast to Great
Yarmouth, where the turbine
components will be pre-
assembled for construction
and installation activities.

Photo: Siemens Gamesa

Energy World | March 2019 9

 UKUpdate

Transport

New research funding for railway traction decarbonisation

Research into cutting the carbon footprint of the UK’s railways has
accelerated with new government support for five projects to study
hydrogen, solar and battery hybrid power for train propulsion.
Rail Minister Andrew Jones announced that the projects have
been chosen for development funding in the second round of the
Department for Transport’s (DfT’s) First of a Kind (FOAK) competition
that focuses on schemes to cut carbon emissions from the railways.
The five decarbonisation projects will each receive £350,000.
The initiative, part of the government’s Industrial Strategy,
comes as rail industry leaders published the interim Rail Industry
Decarbonisation Taskforce report addressing the challenge set by the
DfT last year for cutting emissions and removing diesel-only trains
from the network by 2040. The taskforce report concludes that the
removal of diesel-only passenger trains can be achieved by 2040,
and outlines aims for further investment on a range of alternatives
including bi-mode, hydrogen and battery trains.
But the report also stresses the high efficiency with which the rail
industry uses both its principal traction modes: electricity and diesel,
and the barrier this sets to efforts to introduce low-cost and low-
carbon alternatives. Care must be taken when seeking alternatives,
it says, to avoid unintended consequences such as an artificial
imbalance between the costs of rail freight and road haulage.
Among the priority lines for potential battery hybrid trains
will be the Lakes Line in Cumbria. The DfT says that train operator
Northern will shortly submit a business plan for it to benefit from
this technology. Manufacturer Alstom, engineering company Viva
Rail, and rolling stock owners Angel Trains and Porterbrook are also
developing a range of alternatively-fuelled trains for the UK network,
including battery hybrids and hydrogen powered units, adds the DfT.
Alstom and Eversholt Rail have unveiled the design of a new
hydrogen train for the UK market. The train, codenamed Breeze, will
be a conversion of existing Class 321 trains, could run across the UK
as early as 2022, emitting only water, says Alstom.
If the project goes ahead – Alstom and partners are developing
the business case for introducing a fleet of trains and the associated
refuelling infrastructure – Alstom’s facility in Widnes will manage
the conversion of the Breeze trains.

Carbon capture

Pilot project at Drax begins to capture carbon from biomass

Drax has announced the start-up of a pilot
bioenergy with carbon capture and storage
(BECCS) project at the company’s 3.9 GW
biomass and coal-fired power station near
Selby, north Yorkshire. The demonstration
plant is using new technology, developed by
Leeds-based C-Capture, to capture a tonne of
carbon dioxide per day.
The operation represents the first time
carbon dioxide has been captured from the
combustion of a 100% biomass feedstock
anywhere in the world, says Drax. If the pilot
can be scaled up, then Drax would be helping
to remove the gases that cause global
warning from the atmosphere at the same
time as electricity is produced. The company
says it has invested £400,000 in the project.
Engineers began commissioning the pilot
plant in November with the first carbon now
being captured, proving that the proprietary
solvent developed by C-Capture can be used
to isolate the carbon dioxide from the flue
gases released when biomass is used to
generate electricity. Data being obtained
will be analysed throughout the pilot to
understand the potential of the technology
and how it could be scaled up. Part of this will
include identifying and developing ways to
store and/or use the captured carbon dioxide.
The government’s Clean Growth
Strategy identified BECCS as one of several
technologies that could remove emissions
from the atmosphere.
Caspar Schoolderman, Director of
Engineering at C-Capture said: ‘Working at
this scale is really where the engineering gets
interesting. The challenge now is to get all
the information we need to design and build
a capture plant 10,000 times bigger. It’s only
really when we get to those sorts of scales
that we can start to have an impact on the
climate.’
C-Capture is a spin-out company from
the School of Chemistry at the University of
Leeds.

New steam generators for Grain LNG terminal Grain – Europe’s largest LNG terminal
Process heating systems specialist Babcock Photo: Babcock Wanson
Wanson has completed a major steam
generation project for National Grid at its Grain
LNG importation terminal in Rochester, Kent. The
company has designed a sophisticated steam
generation system based on two of its 7,000
kg/h VPX Rapid Steam Generators, to replace the
existing two 3.5 tonne boilers on site.
The largest LNG terminal in Europe, Grain
LNG is of strategic national importance to the
UK’s energy infrastructure and security of supply.
Following a project to substantially increase the
handling capacity at Grain LNG, it was decided
to upgrade the process heating system that
converts the LNG to a gaseous state.
The new steam generators are fully
automated, with unattended start and stop
capability. They have been designed with
specialist PLC interfaces and controls which also
enable automatic changeover between the two
generators on demand. National Grid has also
agreed a maintenance service contract with
Babcock Wanson.

10 Energy World | March 2019


AD plant fuels RAF base
Future Biogas’s Redstow Renewables 4.5 MW anaerobic digestion (AD) plant, which
converts locally harvested crops such as maize, sugar beet, rye and potatoes into
electricity (via the production of biogas) and fertiliser, will meet over 95% of the power
needs of nearby RAF Marham base.
The deal will save the Ministry of Defence nearly £300,000 per year and reduce its
carbon emissions by 14,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, says the Anaerobic
Digestion & Bioresources Association (ADBA). The waste residue from the process will be
dried and used as fertiliser.
Statistics
Carbon emissions down, low carbon
sector turnover up
UK emissions of the basket of seven
greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto
Protocol were estimated to be 460mn tonnes
of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in
2017, a decrease of 2.7% compared to the
2016 total. Greenhouse gas emissions in 2017
are estimated to be 42% lower than they were
in 1990.
These are the headline findings contained
in 2017 data published by the Department for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
The decrease in emissions from 2016 was
mainly caused by reductions in emissions
from the energy supply sector – down by 7.6%
(9 MtCO2e), driven by the continued decrease
in power station emissions due to the change
in the fuel mix for electricity generation, in
particular a reduction in the use of coal. A
further component was a decrease of 4.2%
(3 MtCO2e) in the residential sector, driven
by a reduction in the use of natural gas for
heating due to warmer weather in the first
half of 2017, says BEIS.
Concentrating on carbon dioxide, the most
dominant greenhouse gas from the Kyoto
‘basket’ of greenhouse gases and accounting
for 81% of total UK greenhouse gas emissions
in 2017, the figures show:
• The UK net 2017 carbon dioxide emissions
were estimated to be 373mn tonnes (Mt),
Photo: ADBA
which was 3.3% lower than the 2016
figure, mainly due to the large decrease in
the use of coal for electricity generation.
• Between 1990 and 2017, UK net carbon
dioxide emissions are estimated to have
decreased by 37%.
With reference to UK domestic targets for
reducing greenhouse gas emissions under the
Climate Change Act, the latest figures show
that UK met the second ‘carbon budget’, with
annual 2013–2017 emissions each below the
annual average emissions level of the budget
period (556 MtCO2e).
A separate bulletin from the Office for
National statistics shows that the turnover
of the UK’s low carbon and renewable
energy sector was £45bn in 2017, while
the number of employees working in this
sector was 210,000 (full-time equivalents).
Companies working in the energy efficiency
sub-sector continued to account for almost
half of turnover (£21bn) and two-thirds of
employment (142,000).
Within energy generation, bioenergy
continued to be the sub-sector with the
highest turnover in 2017 (£3.8bn), followed
by offshore wind (£3.6bn). These two sub
industries also saw the highest employment,
at just over 7,000 each.
UKUpdate
Tariffs
Wholesale costs
push domestic
price caps up
Energy regulator Ofgem has announced
a £117 increase to its price cap for
domestic energy customers on default
(including standard variable) tariffs
just three months after the cap was
established. First introduced on 1
January, the cap will rise to £1,254 per
year for ‘average’ consumers from 1
April, for the six-month summer price
cap period. The price cap for pre-payment
meter customers will increase by £106 to
£1,242 per year for the same period.
Ofgem adjusts the level of the caps
twice a year to reflect the estimated
costs of supplying electricity and gas to
homes for the next six-month period.
Around £74 of the £117 increase in
the default tariff cap is due to higher
wholesale energy costs, which makes
up over a third of the overall cap, says
Ofgem.
The regulator contends that the caps
will continue to ensure that the 15mn
protected households pay a fair price for
their energy – because the rises reflect
a genuine increase in underlying energy
costs. Ofgem analysis suggests that
default tariff customers could be paying
around £75 to £100 a year more on
average for their energy had the default
tariff cap not been introduced, even after
today’s increase.
Reaction to the rise was mixed,
though there seemed to be little
sympathy for consumers, who are
advised to switch tariff, or supplier, if
they want to pay less.
Trade association Energy UK was clear
that the supply industry is suffering.
Chief Executive Lawrence Slade said:
‘Ofgem’s announcement underlines the
fact that suppliers, of all sizes, are facing
drastically rising costs – including a 17%
increase in wholesale costs since the last
cap period – the vast majority of which
are outside their direct control. We are
seeing a number of suppliers exiting
the market due to these rises, which in
turn places additional costs on all other
suppliers.’
Professor David Elmes, Leader of the
Warwick Business School Global Energy
Research Network, put it more starkly:
‘It is no surprise that Ofgem has been
forced to raise the energy price cap. Last
year we saw eight energy companies fail
and the merger between SSE and npower
fall apart. The government policy to set
a price cap was just a political game
between parties who wanted to look
tough on the energy companies.’
Energy World | March 2019 11
 EI News

Student accommodation energy manager

nets prestigious EI award
T
he Group Energy and
Environment Manager at
Unite Students has received
the Energy Institute (EI) Energy
Management Leader of the Year
Award 2019, fighting off tough
competition from five other finalists
demonstrating the best in their
profession across diverse business
sectors.
James Tiernan IEng MEI received
the award at the prestigious edie
Sustainability Leaders Awards
ceremony in February, in recognition
for his successful strategies saving
carbon, energy, water and costs in
properties housing 50,000 students in
28 cities.
Speaking after receiving the award,
James said: ‘Getting noticed helps
push efficiency up the agenda inside
your organisation and it’s a real boost
for your own career. Winning this
award will help me in both of these.”
Also recognised by the judges was
Lara Young of Costain Group, who was
highly commended for her passion
and hard work embedding
sustainability into all stages of the
infrastructure construction process.
The EI has partnered with edie for
the award for almost two decades, as
part of its long-standing commitment
to building careers and celebrating From L to R Wildlife broadcaster Michaela Strachan, EI Head of Events and Training Laura Viscione with award winner
achievement in energy management. James Tiernan

EI shows the way with Report finds mixed views

new lighting guide on importance of women
With lighting still accounting for a
fifth of all the electricity used in UK
in closing looming
commercial buildings and almost
three in four buildings still having
‘talent emergency’
outdated lighting systems, the EI
The new edition of the world’s largest energy recruitment
has added a new Lighting Good
and employment trends report – the Global Energy Talent
Practice Guide to its online energy
Index – has found that most sectors are worried about a
management resources.
Designed to help organisations looming ‘talent emergency’.
and professionals choose a lighting Put together by Airswift and Energy Jobline, with
system that is energy efficient, fit support from the EI, the report highlights the severe
for purpose and value for money, shortage of women working in the energy industry, with
the guide provides a road map women accounting for no more than 14% of the workforce
for overseeing a lighting upgrade, in any sector. The report recommends attracting more
questions to ask a supplier or women into the energy workforce, but only around a tenth
manufacturer, a checklist of what of male respondents believed this would be a viable way
should be included in a tender to close the skills gap, compared to over half of the women
response, and signposts to standards surveyed.
and detailed guidance. The sector that fared best in the survey was renewables
The new Lighting Good Practice – within which 78% said they would choose the sector if
Guide can be found at knowledge. beginning their careers again. For under 25s the number
energyinst.org/collections/energy expressing their enthusiasm rose to 85%.
-management The report can be downloaded at www.getireport.com

12 Energy World | March 2019


EI President appears before Commons
Science and Technology Committee
T
he influential House of Commons
Science and Technology Committee
quizzed EI President Malcolm Brinded
FREng CBE FEI and other energy experts in
January, on the crucial decisions needed to
be taken by the government to meet the
UK’s emissions reduction targets.  Malcolm discusses these issues in more
During the session, Malcolm called for
the UK government to focus on the export
opportunities of clean growth innovation,
through a more integrated strategy
between the Departments for Business,
International Development, Transport and
Trade.
With global energy demand set to soar
as billions of people in lower and middle-
income countries move into the middle
classes, he stressed the ‘major opportunity
Energy Institute backs methane action coalition
Collective action by global operators to
bear down on fugitive methane emissions
during oil and gas production has received
the fulsome support of the EI.
International institutions including UN
Environment have established the Methane
Guiding Principles, calling on oil and gas
companies to reduce methane emissions
and improve accuracy and transparency
around methane emission data. Eighteen
global operators have already become
signatories.
Chief Executive Louise Kingham OBE
FEI announced in February that the EI has
become a supporting organisation, making
clear its determination to use its influence
to raise the profile of the issue among
its professional members, partners and
customers, for the public good.
Writing in a blog post, Louise said: ‘The
release of fugitive methane during oil
New professional members
The EI provides a range of professional
membership grades and chartered titles.
Achieving these higher levels of recognition
supports your career development and
demonstrates your commitment to the
industry. Congratulations to the individuals
who have achieved professional recognition
and/or have acquired registration in the last
few months.
Member (MEI)
Kelvin Enumah, Institute for Industrial
Technology
Andrea Mazzucchelli, Carbon Credentials
Leon Moller, Robert Gordon University
Christopher Forster, Hodkinson Consultancy
Joanna Tomlinson, EVORA
Russel Williams, University of Aberdeen
Business School
EI President Malcolm Brinded addressing Commons
Science and Technology Committee
for UK plc to be involved in supporting the
innovations, technologies, businesses and
start-ups that can make an impact’.
He also outlined the need to test at scale
the ‘big solutions’, in particular carbon
and gas production tends to get too little
airtime. As an industry, we have to meet
this challenge head-on, not head-in-sand.
Indeed, if we don’t up the ante on CH4,
Georgia Makridou, ESCP Europe
Member (MEI) and Chartered Energy
Manager
Simon Chiva, Trident Utilities
Member, Chartered Engineer and Chartered
Energy Engineer (MEI CEng Chartered
Energy Engineer)
Juliana Renn, WSP London
Paul Chester, PRC Engineering
Logan Black, AECOM
Matthew Maskell, GDC group
Member, Chartered Engineer and Chartered
Petroleum Engineer (MEI CEng Chartered
Petroleum Engineer)
Timothy Frank Wilson, Shell
EINews
capture utilisation and storage. ‘CCUS is
going to be an essential component of any
negative emissions strategy for the world
to get to 2°C and certainly to 1.5°C’ he said,
and testing at scale ‘is an opportunity for
the UK to be at the front of that.’
detail in his interview on page 26.
He was appearing following submission
of joint written evidence by the Royal
Academy of Engineering, the Energy
Institute and other bodies to the
Committee’s inquiry into clean growth
technologies. The written submission can
found at bit.ly/2WphMz2
Video of the evidence session is also
available to view at bit.ly/2Tc5Yyi
there’s a risk that efforts to reduce CO2
emissions elsewhere in the lifecycle could
be undermined, and with them natural gas’
licence to operate as a cleaner fossil fuel
and bridge to a sustainable energy future.’
Methane is 28-36 times more potent
as a greenhouse gas than CO2 over 100
years. Research by the International Energy
Agency has suggested it’s technically
possible to avoid 75% of current methane
emissions in the natural gas supply
chain, of which as much as half could be
avoided at net negative cost. Despite this,
awareness within the industry is low.
More than 80% of international oil and
gas professionals surveyed by the EI last
year were unaware of the extent of the
possibilities to tackle the problem.
Read Louise’s blog on this issue at
blog.energyinst.org
Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv MEI)
Richard James Harper, Hoare Lea
Fellow (FEI)
Piers Guy, Vattenfall Wind Power
John Pitts, eJet
Haisheng Chen, Institute of Engineering
Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of
Sciences
Henrietta Stock, SES Water
Contact the EI Membership team on t: +44 (0)20
7467 7100 or e: membership@energyinst.org for
details on upgrading your membership, applying for
registration or for any other queries about your
EI membership.
Energy World | March 2019 13
Energy management
DEMAND REDUCTION
Energy demand in
the energy transition
Energy demand in some European countries has been falling
for some time, yet the scope for further reductions in demand
is considerable, argues Professor Nick Eyre FEI. Just as well, as
considerably larger falls are required.
E
nergy demand is often a
secondary consideration
in discussions about the
low carbon energy transition.
If it is mentioned at all, many
commentators assume that all
that the demand side can offer is
a continuation of historical trends
in efficiency improvement. This is
a mistake. The agenda for energy
demand change is much bigger than
marginal efficiency improvement,
and is critical to the low carbon
transition.
A number of challenges need to
be addressed:
• demand reduction – using the
potential for energy efficiency
and conservation to reduce
demand more quickly than we
have achieved historically;
• demand response – shifting
demand in time to match the
availability of variable
renewables; and
• switching fuel – to electricity
and other low carbon fuels.
In the last decade, energy
demand in some European
countries, including the UK, has
fallen. Figure 1 shows the UK trends
since 1970 in energy use and gross
Figure 1. Trends in UK domestic product (GDP). GDP has
energy demand and GDP
14 Energy World | March 2019
almost tripled since 1970. In the
same period energy demand has
fallen by 8%, so the energy intensity
of the economy has fallen by a
factor of three. This has been critical
to making energy affordable,
ensuring adequate capacity and
reducing emissions.
However, in the rest of the world,
the situation is different, as Figure 2
shows. In developing countries, in
particular, energy use is rising,
driven by rising demand for energy
services. Improved energy efficiency
reduces the rate of energy demand
growth, but does not reverse it. Since
the industrial revolution, energy
supply has been dominated by fossil
fuels. Demand growth therefore
drives increased use of fossil fuels
and carbon emissions.
Future trends need to be very
different. As Figure 3 illustrates, the
commitments made collectively by
the governments of the world in the
2015 Paris Agreement imply a
profound change from historical
trends in carbon dioxide emissions,
and therefore in the use of fossil
fuels.
Globally, continued economic
and population growth seem highly
probable. In these circumstances,
there are only two approaches to
reducing carbon emissions. The first
is to reduce the carbon intensity of
energy, by changing to carbon
neutral energy sources. The second
is to reduce the energy intensity of
the economy, through energy
efficiency and conservation. To
achieve the very rapid reductions
required to meet the Paris
Agreement both will be needed.
Limiting rises in global
temperature to 2°C will be very
challenging; achieving it without
increased rates of efficiency
improvement is a near
impossibility.
Demand reduction
According to the International
Energy Agency, energy efficiency
will continue to be the largest
single contributor to the emissions
reduction we need to stabilise
the climate. It provides most of
the cheap options for greenhouse
gas abatement, as lifetime energy
cost savings usually outweigh the
additional capital expenditure.
Of course, thermodynamics pose
some limits to efficiency
improvement, but we are currently
far away from what can be
achieved. A study by the US
National Academy of Sciences found
that the potential for cost-effective
energy efficiency has not fallen over
several decades, because innovation
provides new options as fast as
existing energy efficient technology
is deployed.
The main constraints on
improving efficiency relate to the
interaction of the technology with
people. In energy supply, most
investment and operational
decisions are made by people
employed specifically to make those
decisions. The same applies to
energy efficiency in some large
organisations, but in households
and small businesses, decisions
about energy investment are made
by ‘non-experts’. In most cases, the
equipment supply chain has no
interest in ensuring that optimal (or
even good) decisions are made by
their customers. Decision making is
far from optimal.
There is no single easy answer to
this problem. We cannot realistically
expect that most people will
become energy experts. But that
does not mean nothing can be done.
Products standards can require
higher efficiency; supply chains can
be better trained; management
systems can focus on energy
performance; consumers can be
better informed and advised. We
have decades of experience in how
to do these effectively.
Most demand reduction is
delivered through energy efficiency,
but the older concept of energy
conservation, reducing the demand
for energy services, is also relevant.
This is often thought of negatively,
for example as ‘shivering in the
dark’. But there are plenty of
examples of people reducing their
demand for energy services without
being worse off. Cycling and
walking for short journeys, eating
local food and reusing waste all save
energy, with positive impacts on
health and personal budgets.
Demand response
In the energy transition, the
amount of energy we use will
continue to be important, but the
timing of demand will increasingly

matter. This is especially true
for electricity, where supply and
demand need to be balanced in
close to real time. As the use of
variable energy sources increases,
there will be a premium on
flexibility. Flexible generation,
interconnection and electricity
storage will play a role, but so
will demand response (flexibility
of demand in time) by business
and household electricity users,
especially where this can deliver
flexibility most cheaply.
Demand response can be
achieved in two ways. The first is by
re-timing energy services, which are
not time critical, such as clothes
washing. The second is by users
storing energy for later use, for
example as thermal energy in a hot
water tank, cooling appliance or
building fabric. Collectively, these
changes have the potential to shift
significant demand over periods of
minutes or hours. And the economic
benefits are potentially large –
£800mn annually in the UK
according to the National
Infrastructure Commission.
However, just as with energy
efficiency improvement, the
technical potential and economics
are not the whole story. Demand
response through interruptible
contracts has been familiar to large
energy users for decades, but it is a
new idea for most energy users. It
Energy management
requires the use of smart meters bioenergy seems unwise in a world
and, if the incentive is to be where other countries will be facing
financial, time of use pricing. In the same decarbonisation
many cases, it will require the challenges.
energy user to delegate control of This challenge of limited options
their equipment to another actor, is driving interest in hydrogen as a
such as an energy supplier. fuel for heating, transport and
These sorts of changes in industrial processes. It is possible to
business models and tariffs may convert the existing gas distribution
seem perfectly reasonable and network to hydrogen. In principle,
desirable to industry experts. hydrogen can be manufactured at
However, if they are to be socially scale, either from natural gas by
acceptable, they need a level of steam methane reforming (SMR) or
citizen engagement that large from electricity by electrolysis.
energy companies are currently not SMR is a well-established process
well-positioned to deliver. for industrial hydrogen but, to be
low carbon, would require using
Figure 2. Trends in global
energy use by fuel type Switching fuel carbon capture and storage.
Source: OECD Whilst much of energy policy Electrolysis is not cost effective at
focuses on electricity supply, we current electricity prices, although
should not forget that 80% of that could change if the growth of
final energy use is not electricity. variable generation leads to long
Direct use of fossil fuels is periods with low electricity
dominant in transport, heating and wholesale prices.
industrial processes. Analyses of The route to full decarbonisation
decarbonisation, by the Committee of the whole economy is therefore
on Climate Change and others, not yet clear. The current focus is on
indicate that the early priority is to understanding the technology and
decarbonise electricity. This makes economics of fuel switching. But
decarbonising transport, industrial again, social issues will prove
processes and heating easier, to the critical. Changing the fuels used by
extent that they can then be done vehicles and homes cannot be
by switching to electricity. assumed to be acceptable just
This is beginning to happen in because it is possible. Perceptions of
transport, initially with hybrids, but safety, performance and cost will all
increasingly with fully electric be critical, and will depend on trust
vehicles. With falling battery costs, in supply chains and public
there are good grounds for authorities.
optimism that light vehicles can
largely be decarbonised in this way. Conclusions
For other end uses, total In recent decades, improvements
electrification is less likely. Reliance in energy efficiency have been
on batteries for heavy goods critical to the cost effectiveness
vehicles is more difficult; for long and security in the UK energy
distance modes such as shipping system, and in beginning its
and aviation it is implausible. For decarbonisation. To achieve
some industrial process, moving complete decarbonisation, demand
away from direct fuel combustion is side changes will become even
difficult, because the fuels play a more important. Demand will
role as a chemical feedstock and/or need to be reduced faster; it will
reductant. need to be made flexible; and, in
Figure 3 Carbon Complete electrification of many cases, the fuels used will
emissions consistent building heating also seems need to change. All of these pose
with Paris Agreement unlikely. In the UK, heating demand substantial technical challenges.
temperature goals
is dominated by space heating, At least as importantly, citizens
Source: Environmental
Research Letters 10 which is highly seasonal and very need to be engaged, consumers and
weather dependent. Even with employees informed, and supply
efficient heat pumps, complete chains trained, all on a scale beyond
electrification of existing UK anything experienced in our
residential heating would increase lifetimes.
peak electricity demand by around In the Centre for Research into
40 GW. Much of this new generation Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS),
capacity would be used only in cold we will be undertaking research on
weather, and therefore with a very these topics. But enough is already
low load factor. It is difficult to see known for practitioners and
how this could ever be economic. policymakers to take action. The
In all these cases, zero carbon agenda for energy professionals has
fuels other than electricity seem never been more challenging or
likely to be needed. In the UK, our more interesting. l
options are likely to be limited.
Biofuels could play an increased Nick Eyre FEI is Director of the Centre for
Research into Energy Demand Solutions
role, but their production in the UK (CREDS), which acts as the hub for UK
is constrained by competition for Research and Innovation funded energy
land use, and relying on imported demand research in the UK, creds.ac.uk
Energy World | March 2019 15
Energy management
TECHNOLOGY
Even though its associated tax relief scheme is due to end
in April 2020, the government’s Energy Technology List will
continue to deliver considerable performance benefits to
technology buyers, writes the Carbon Trust’s May Laghzaoui.
E
nergy managers and energy
professionals are certainly
aware of the various benefits
associated with reduced energy
usage. Not only does it cut energy
consumption and costs, it also helps
businesses to reach environmental
standards and reduce their carbon
emissions in the fight against
climate change.
But when it comes to new
equipment, businesses are often
reluctant to invest in pricier, high
performing machinery to create
these long-term savings. The false
economy created by cheaper
products can lure organisations in
and results in higher energy
consumption and greater energy
costs in the long run.
However, energy managers and
procurement professionals who
secure investment in energy
efficient equipment will not only
bring their businesses long-term
energy savings, they can also
achieve a potential cash flow boost
through accelerated tax relief.
Enhanced Capital Allowance (ECA)
tax relief can be gained by investing
in energy efficient equipment listed
on the UK government’s Energy
Technology List (ETL). The ETL
currently lists approximately 15,000
of the most energy efficient
products across 57 technology
categories.
The ETL is a free-to-use list that
provides organisations with the
confidence that they are buying
plant and machinery that
demonstrate a high standard of
energy efficiency. This is backed by
regular, independent evaluations of
the market across the relevant
Image: Shutterstock technology categories, providing a
16 Energy World | March 2019
How to
guarantee high
performing
technology
benchmark for what currently
represents top performance.
Tax relief
There is also an attractive financial
benefit available to businesses that
invest in equipment listed on the
ETL. Until April 2020, companies
are eligible for 100% accelerated tax
relief on these products through
the use of ECAs. While the clock is
ticking on the availability of ECA
tax relief, it is important to note
that the government has no plans
to stop supporting the ETL beyond
April 2020.
For those seeking to pair the ETL
with another form of accelerated
tax relief, the Annual Investment
Allowance (AIA) limit is being raised
to £1mn for two years from January
2019. Businesses investing in new
plant and machinery will be able to
claim through the business’ AIA
instead.
Based on rigorous standards and
testing processes, the ETL allows
manufacturers to credibly claim
that their products demonstrate top
quartile energy saving performance,
and offers customers operational
savings when compared with less
efficient alternatives. When it comes
to buying new equipment,
businesses are increasingly looking
beyond up-front capital costs to
consider total cost of ownership.
This is why the ETL has become an
integral part of the procurement
processes for many large businesses
and public sector organisations.
For example, when designing
energy efficient features for new or
existing buildings, selecting
equipment from the ETL can
contribute towards achieving the
RICS SKA rating or a successful
BREEAM assessment. Both schemes
include ETL listed energy efficient
equipment in their criteria.
The ETL also complements other
government-backed energy
efficiency policies, such as the
Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme
(ESOS). Although ESOS energy
assessments do not require
companies to implement identified
cost-effective energy saving
recommendations, it is expected
that they will encourage greater
levels of procurement for energy
efficient technologies, making the
ETL an extremely helpful resource.
The ETL functions as a quick tool in
order to identify independently
verified high performing products
without the need to conduct time
consuming market research.
Technology products
The Energy Technology List
composes two separate sub-lists:
the Energy Technology Product List
(ETPL), which is a list of qualified
energy saving products; and the
Energy Technology Criteria List
(ETCL), which is a list specifying
the energy-saving performance
requirements products must meet
or exceed to be supported by the
ECA scheme. Most purchasing
businesses will only have to
concern themselves with the ETPL.
Technologies supported by the ECA
scheme are:
• Air-to-air energy recovery
• Automatic Monitoring and
Targeting (aM&T) equipment
• Boiler equipment
• Combined heat and power (CHP)
• Compressed air equipment
• Heat pumps
• Heating, ventilation and
air-conditioning (HVAC)
equipment
 Energy management

• High speed hand air dryers required internal or external

sustainability targets. More and Based on rigorous standards and testing
• Lighting
more businesses are gaining a processes, the Energy Technology List allows
• Motors and drives greater understanding of their manufacturers to credibly claim that their
energy consumption and the role
• Pipework insulation
they are playing in cutting carbon
products demonstrate top quartile energy saving
• Radiant and warm air heaters emissions and tackling climate performance
change.
• Refrigeration equipment
Although this is not
• Solar thermal systems and automatically linked to cost savings,
collectors the combined cost savings achieved
through energy efficiency and the
• Uninterruptible power supplies
accelerated tax relief give Case study
• Waste heat to electricity businesses a clear financial
conversion equipment incentive to invest in high The type of savings that can be achieved through
performing technologies. This purchasing products listed on the ETL are demonstrated in
serves to justify the price premium the following example of a refrigeration system controls
It is estimated that the ECA
for the energy efficient products and upgrade. The potential annual savings achieved at a
scheme has been used
Past by UK
clients include:
shorten the investment payback commercial site running eight evaporators and one cold
businesses to capture around
• RBS Mentor period. room are calculated as:
£100mn a year in accelerated tax
• relief
Carillion Facilities
and abate carbonManagement
emissions With just over a year remaining
• £2,900
• equivalent to approximately
Co-operative Group 88mn on the availability of ECA tax relief,
tonnes of carbon dioxide(ENOC)
since 2001. energy managers should make the • 26 MWh
Emirates National Oil Company
most of this time-limited window
Yorkshire Water • 9 tonnes of carbon dioxide
Time limited window and benefit by upgrading to high
gham City Improving
Council levels of energy performing energy efficient
equipment. And beyond April 2020, With a typical additional capital cost of £3,600 and
ergy efficiency helps organisations to
continue to use the ETL as a trusted, lifetime energy and ECA benefits of around £31,000 at
reduce operating costs and lower
independent source to make today’s prices, the financial benefit of choosing an ETL-
their energy bills, resulting in a
informed purchasing decisions and listed product can be over the additional cost.
shortened payback period for new
manage their energy costs. l Furthermore with a potential ECA tax relief amount of
equipment and strengthening the
approximately £6,400 in year one plus additional energy
business case for action.
May Laghzaoui is the ETL Project Manager at savings, the extra capital cost is recovered within one
A further benefit to the use of the Carbon Trust, carbontrust.com year of purchase.​This is based on the assumption that
higher efficiency equipment is the
refrigeration system controls lead to 10% energy saving
ability to reduce carbon dioxide
for a system using 262 MWh/year.
emissions, helping businesses to
combat climate change and meet

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Energy efficiency
ENERGY MANAGEMENT
Today’s energy manager can often
hold the title of safety, health and
environment manager, engineering
manager or environmental manager.
But they all face the same challenges
in effectively managing energy and
reducing costs, writes George Richards.
I
n my role, I interact with
organisations of many different
shapes and sizes, primarily
within the manufacturing
sector and, as such, recognise the
challenges facing those tasked
with managing their organisation’s
energy.
In a recent meeting with the
sustainability director of a major
global manufacturer, I shared a
PowerPoint slide listing some of the
typical macro and micro challenges
currently facing UK sites. He paused
momentarily before stating that not
some, but all, of the challenges listed
were relevant to all of their sites –
and this is a company with an
annual energy expenditure in
excess of £80mn.
Despite the fact that the cost of
energy is likely to increase as the
result of legislation, global demand
and the UK’s diminishing
generating capacity, the same could
be said of many organisations I
meet with.
What constantly disappoints me
is that our ability to help improve
how energy is managed – even
where a strong business case exists
– is all too often frustrated and
stalled.
Capital
Production is king within the I’m sure many of us are all too
manufacturing sector, but
energy management still
familiar with the phrase ‘production
delivers bottom line benefits is king’. It is as relevant today as
18 Energy World | March 2019
Navigating
complexity –
how energy
managers can
add value
it was when I first started my
career in energy almost 40 years
ago. In practice, it means that
the core business activity takes
absolute priority over any other
consideration – unless it is a matter
of legislative compliance, such as
health and safety.
This prevailing attitude also
works on the false premise that
good energy management practice
costs money and erodes already
thin profit margins. This is blatantly
untrue, as the positive impact of
effective energy management on
the bottom line has been proven
time and again, and in many cases
the return on investment exceeds
that of other capital investments.
The lack of, or competition for,
available capital is often cited as the
main reason why energy projects
are not implemented. But why
compete for limited internal capital,
particularly to invest in non-core
business projects, when there are
numerous alternative vehicles
through which these investments
can be made?
Individual investments can be
funded via Energy Performance
Contracts (EPCs) or third-party
funding, whilst the responsibility
for all utilities can be outsourced
under a Utilities Management
Agreement (UMA) with the
performance risk outsourced to a
specialist provider and energy
savings guaranteed.
Culture
The culture of an organisation is
influenced by a number of factors
including its history; acquisitions
and inherited cultures; the
demographic of the workforce;
location and its management team.
In order to positively change an
organisation’s culture there needs to
be a real belief in that change at the
most senior level as this is where
strategies are formulated, and
examples are set.
That said, change has to happen
at all levels throughout an
organisation and needs to be
reflected in communications,
induction training, mission
statements, management meetings,
policies and day-to-day practices.
Energy has to be considered in all
parts of an organisation – from
procurement to operations, and
from the office to the factory floor.
Doing so makes energy everyone’s
responsibility and not just that of a
single individual. In other words, a
holistic view needs to be
encouraged and adopted across a
business.
The cumulative impact of
individual actions and measures has
a significant and, more importantly,
a sustainable effect upon energy
efficiency and cost reduction.
Increasingly, a company’s
sustainability culture, of which
energy is a significant constituent
part, is a key factor in both the
retention and recruitment of staff
and indeed in the securing and
retention of customers and
suppliers.
A well-developed and established
organisational energy culture will
also help to bridge the disconnect
that is often present between group
and sites, where group targets bear
little relationship to what can
realistically be achieved at site level
– particularly where appropriate
resources are not made available.
Organisational change
Organisational change, and the exit
and influx of individual managers,
can often frustrate progress with
projects and the development and

implementation of effective energy
management. However, once a
good Energy Management System
(EnMS) has been developed and
implemented this will negate any
negative impacts of organisational
and personnel changes.
A good EnMS, such as one that
complies with ISO 50001, will
ensure a consistent approach to
how energy is managed and
provides a lasting legacy for the
organisation by embedding it in its
culture and working practices.
Furthermore, it ensures that
responsibility for managing energy
no longer lies with a single
individual, but the entire
organisation.
Technology
I am old enough to remember the
‘dash for gas’ in the 1990’s and the
glut of combined heat and power
(CHP) projects that went with it,
leaving a legacy of oversized and
inefficient plants.
There were a number of reasons
why this happened, including the
energy market dynamics at the
time, which encouraged oversized
CHP plants to be installed as
exported excess power realised a
valuable revenue stream. However,
the energy market has since
changed significantly, and the
economics of exporting power no
longer add up.
Today, there is a shift back
towards on-site power generation
for different reasons, such as site
resilience and reducing carbon
dioxide emissions, but CHP plants
are now being sized to meet the
power demands of the site only.
However, in my view, insufficient
work is being done to understand
the current and future electrical
baseload of sites before specifying
the size of the CHP plant being
installed which, after all, is a
long-term investment requiring a
long-term view to be taken.
Many organisations are also
turning to renewables, such as
biomass, solar PV and wind – all of
which are an increasingly
important part of the energy mix.
But it can be difficult to assess
which technology is best suited to
an organisation’s needs, location
and energy profile. Rapidly-
developing battery technology adds
another layer of complexity to the
picture, as these technologies will
influence potential investment in
renewables in terms of type,
location and scale.
The increasing numbers of
electric vehicles adds yet another
responsibility to the list for today’s
energy managers, who are often
tasked with ensuring the supporting
on-site infrastructure is in place.
Internal communications,
induction training and Legislation
day-to-day practice are all CCAs, ESOS, EU ETS and now SECR
essential to organisational are some of the many pieces of
change
legislation and regulation that
today’s energy manager has to deal
with. Ensuring compliance can be
very time consuming and complex
and detracts from the day-to-day
task of managing energy.
However, energy-related
legislation is not going to go away,
and it is important to try to find a
way in which to help, not hinder, an
energy manager’s efforts. If we take
ESOS as an example, many
participating organisations view
these regulations as unnecessary
and have adopted a ‘tick in the box’
approach to compliance – failing to
implement any of the identified
improvement measures and
projects.
Instead, I would suggest
embracing ESOS and extract as
much value from it as possible
starting with the appointment of a
fully qualified lead assessor with
the relevant and demonstrable
experience of your particular sector.
In addition, identify those lead
assessors who can add real value to
the process and with whom you can
envisage working in the future.
Finally, one of the key objectives
of ESOS is to provide an opportunity
to raise the profile of energy, and the
opportunities it presents, to the
The positive board of a company. A director has
impact of to sign off the ESOS audit and can
therefore use this as an opportunity
effective energy to present the key findings and
management on make a business case for
the bottom line implementation.
has been proven The use of tools, such as a cost
benefit analysis, will help to clearly
time and again, illustrate the cost of inaction versus
and in many the benefits of implementation and
cases the return will take into account the rising cost
on investment of delivered energy over time,
helping to encourage greater focus
exceeds that of on energy management and
other capital efficiencies.
investments
Resources
Almost without exception, energy
managers have multiple roles and
complain of conflicting priorities
and a lack of resources, ie time
Energy efficiency
and people.
Typically, and understandably,
their available time is spent
ensuring compliance with relevant
legislation; checking that the
business has a reliable and secure
supply of required utilities, such as
air conditioning, compressed air,
heating or refrigeration; and, if time
allows, providing energy reports to
the senior management team.
In recognition of this common
issue, and in direct response to one
particular organisation struggling
to recruit, we developed and now
provide what is in effect a part time
energy manager service, which can
be used to help with any aspect of
energy management.
The selective use of relevant
equipment suppliers can also be a
useful resource as can industry
peers, trade associations and
industry organisations including
ESTA, EMA, Edie and the Energy
Institute.
Overcoming challenges
For those organisations at the
beginning of their energy journey, I
would suggest taking the following
steps to get to grips with energy
management.
• Step One: Create a plan. This can
be a simple one-page document
outlining the key steps that will
help improve how energy is
managed and will drive down
energy consumption and costs.
• Step Two: Understand how and
where energy is being used
across your site or organisation.
That doesn’t mean installing
hundreds of meters at a huge
cost, it simply means optimising
what you already have and
making it work for you.
• Step Three: Identify simple
low-cost measures and projects
that ideally can be funded via
the Opex budget and have a
good return on investment.
• Step Four: Measure results,
report progress and celebrate
success.
There is no choice but to reduce
energy consumption for economic,
operational and environmental
reasons. While the job of an energy
manager seems to be getting more
complex all the time, careful
planning and forecasting can pave
the way for effective action across
an organisation. l
George Richards is Business Development
Director at energy consultancy JRP Solutions,
jrpsolutions.com
Energy World | March 2019 19
Energy efficiency

ESOS

The opportunity in ESOS 2

As the deadline for compliance with Phase 2 of the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme
(ESOS) approaches, participants should take advantage of the chance to take a fresh look
at their energy use, writes Jennifer Johnson.

O
nly 16% of the hundreds still likely to be in their reference However, Mulholland recommends
of compliance audits period, but this doesn’t mean they that participants research beyond
‘A lot of
conducted for Phase 1 of should wait to plot a route to registers when it comes to participants will
the Energy Savings Opportunity compliance this time around. choosing a qualified assessor. just go onto a
Scheme (ESOS) demonstrated full ‘A lot of participants will just go register and
compliance, according to figures Audits and assessors onto a register and randomly select
from the Carbon Trust. As the Lead assessors must be appointed a lead assessor, but I’d say that lead
randomly select
deadline for the second phase to review an organisation’s chosen assessor needs to have experience a lead assessor,
of ESOS compliance approaches, compliance method, unless of that company’s particular sector, but I’d say that
participating organisations should they elect to cover all areas of as well as experience with ESOS,’ lead assessor
recognise that the scheme it not significant energy consumption Mulholland says. ‘Companies have
just a box-ticking exercise – but a through ISO 50001 certification. to ask questions like: Were you a
needs to have
genuine opportunity to make their In many cases, companies will lead assessor in Phase 1? Can you experience of
operations more efficient. choose to undertake one or a series provide any case studies or that company’s
The qualification date for ESOS of ESOS energy audits covering references from satisfied clients?’ particular sector,
Phase 2 was 31 December 2018, all areas of significant energy
which means that organisations consumption. These audits must Implementing change
as well as
operating in the UK should already be undertaken, or overseen, and Analysis by the Carbon Trust experience with
know whether the scheme applies signed off by a lead assessor. found that putting ESOS-driven ESOS’
to them. By 5 December this year, All data used in an audit should energy saving measures in place
they must have fulfilled the cover a minimum of 12 consecutive provided a 20% average reduction John Mulholland
requirements of ESOS and months and that 12-month period in business energy costs. While this
submitted their notification of must fall within the 24 months figure is likely to vary from one
compliance to the Environment prior to conducting an audit. This organisation to another, there’s
Agency. means that participants can little doubt that the scheme is
conduct audits before they’ve even helpful, especially for businesses
What’s required? started, or completed, their TEC that might not be aware of
The scheme asks participants to reference period. potential efficiencies.
make an initial estimate of their Some organisations might be ‘The participants that benefit
total energy consumption (which tempted to carry out audits in most from ESOS are generally
includes energy used in buildings, house as a cost-saving measure, organisations that don’t have
transport and industrial processes); but John Mulholland FEI, the professional energy managers and
identify areas of significant energy founder of energy management energy management isn’t a normal
consumption; and – if this is the consultancy Mulholland Energy part of what they do,’ Mulholland
route being taken – carry out Solutions, believes this can be a says. ‘Whereas large, energy-
audits to find out where savings risky approach. intensive companies, like chemical
can be made. ‘You need a lead assessor to sign plants, already know many of the
Total energy consumption (TEC) off ESOS and that person has to be solutions.’
is measured during a 12-month on a register, like the Register of A successful ESOS audit process
reference period, which includes Professional Energy Consultants could highlight opportunities to
the qualification date of 31 (RPEC), but anyone can do an improve a company’s technical
December 2018. This means that energy audit and they don’t need equipment, use of data and culture
the earliest Phase 2 reference any qualifications at all,’ he around energy use. Some
period is January to December explains. ‘Sometimes it’s quite participants might find that they
2018, while the latest extends from noticeable that either junior could save on electricity bills by
December 2018 to November 2019. engineers, or even non-technical fitting LED lights in a corporate
According to a 2017 report from people altogether, are producing office, while another might
the Department for Business, energy audits, and they’re discover that an outdated HVAC
Energy and Industrial Strategy generally not compliant. I suspect system is costing them thousands
(BEIS), Early Impact Evaluation of what’s happened is that there’s more than it should.
ESOS, awareness of the scheme was been a race to the bottom on price.’ However, savings can only be
high among participants during Lead assessors can be an ESOS realised with the help of a skilled
Phase 1. However, it notes, the participant’s employee or an lead assessor and a genuine
compliance process was external consultant, as long as they commitment to compliance.
characterised by ‘late initiation and are members of an approved There’s still time for ESOS Phase 2
commissioning of compliance professional body register, like the participants to see the light. l
activity by many obligated Energy Institute’s RPEC and listing
organisations.’ of chartered energy managers For details of the EI’s Register of Professional
Energy Consultants,
Many Phase 2 participants are approved as ESOS Lead Assessors. visit: energyinst.org/industry/rpec

20 Energy World | March 2019

 Events Book now

Energy Efficiency 2019

27 March, London, UK

For the sixth consecutive year, our renowned Energy Efficiency Registration costs
Conference brings together key representatives including energy From £100+VAT
managers, psychologists, large end users, designers, consultants
and academics to discuss the latest issues surrounding energy Contact
efficiency. Francesca Ferrari
+44 (0)20 7467 7192
Speakers include: fferrari@energyinst.org

• Alex Gilbert, Senior Strategy Manager for Commercial Energy, TFL

• Richard Kelly CEng MEI, Estates Officer, Dublin City University
• Emily Chapple, Head of Sustainability Consulting Services, EMEA,
CBRE Corporate Outsourcing
• James Patterson CEng FEI, Director, ClearLead Consulting
• Anke Brems, Senior Consultant for Sustainable Energy Use, Europe
DNV GL – Energy
• Eur Ing John Mulholland CEng CSci FEI, Director, Mulholland
Energy Solutions
• Fei Zheng, Energy Conservation Officer, Islington Council
Topics explored:
Policies and initiatives to drive energy efficiency:
• Long term carbon strategy/targets and science-based targets
• Renewable heat incentive and the industrial heat recovery
scheme
• How companies are setting targets for carbon legislative strategies
Energy efficient technologies and system optimisation:
• Biomass
• Demand side response/storage – ADE code for DSR
• Electric vehicles
Energy management, standards, reporting and auditing:
• Streamlined energy and carbon reporting (SECR)
• Performance management and measurement
• ESOS
• ISO50001
• MEES
Energy efficiency business models:
• Financing projects – successful financing case study from
user perspective

energy-inst.org/EE2019
Energy management
POWER QUALITY
Improving power quality can
cut electricity use
Few energy users understand that a welcome side effect
of power quality improvement is a reduction in the use of
electricity, writes Steve Hughes of REO UK.
A
power quality issue is
generally defined as
a voltage, current or
frequency deviation in the applied
mains that has a detrimental effect
on the performance or longevity of
connected equipment. Usually, if
the voltage or current is not a pure
sine wave then there is a problem.
It is easy to blame the power utility
companies for quality issues on
their network but, more often
than not, it is the energy user’s
own equipment and that of their
neighbours that is the root cause of
the problem.
Almost anything that is
connected to the mains network
can cause difficulty, but
components and systems that
switch high power at low
frequencies, such as power factor
correction (PFC) capacitor banks,
thyristor-controlled equipment like
heater banks and the direct current
(DC) input sections of variable
speed drives (VSDs), tend to create
the most issues as they are often
the most prevalent pieces of
control equipment in industrial
environments.
If products, and in this case
VSDs, are used without chokes or
indeed electromagnetic
compatibility (EMC) filters, their
interference spreads throughout
the network, causing sags, swells,
transients and harmonic issues
which affect equipment
performance and longevity.
Although the effects may not be
immediately apparent, if more and
more converters are used, several
phenomena may occur as the
interference they generate mounts
up. The scope of the effects ranges
from network imbalance or
network failure being reported by
a wide variety of devices, to
damaged transformers, conductor
heating and fuse failures.
However, it is questionable
whether users are bothered by this.
The likelihood is that they are not,
provided their equipment and site
22 Energy World | March 2019
is running satisfactorily, despite
the known benefit of increased
power quality. One of these
phenomena in particular can
contribute greatly to a site’s
electricity consumption –
harmonics.
Every country sets limit values
on harmonics to ensure that
electricity consumers do not
overload the public supply
networks. The harmonics
concerned are generated by devices
carrying up to 75 A in the
frequency range to 2 kHz.
EN 61000-3-12 significantly calls
for a 40% limit on Total Harmonic
Distortion (THD) in the fifth
harmonic.
In the UK the useful power
supplied to a system is at a
frequency of 50 Hz and at unity
power factor – anything that
deviates from this will result in
higher costs. So, if additional
harmonic currents are being
drawn, users will pay for them in
cash. If a site has a low power
factor, it is likely they will be
paying for that too and the two
issues go hand in hand.
Harmonic mitigation
There are several methods of
harmonic reduction. Active filters,
which can be expensive, perform
well in dynamic situations where
the harmonic signature changes
often. Twelve-pulse rectification
utilises a star/delta transformer
and 12 semiconductors to reduce
harmonic content – again this can
be expensive and is not suitable for
a lot of applications.
Where standard alternating
current (AC) drives are concerned,
most VSD manufacturers will
recommend that users deploy
some element of harmonic
mitigation and that will typically
involve an iron core mains choke.
An input choke will effectively
smooth out these harmonics to
make the current waveform more
sinusoidal and less harmonic-
laden. This is demonstrated in a
Fourier analysis of harmonic
content with and without mains
chokes.
In addition to the improved
current form factor and reduction
of harmonics, a mains choke will
limit the peaks and reduce the rise
times of disturbances coming from
the mains, such as current and
voltage peaks. These kinds of
disturbances, which are often
caused by thyristor power control,
contactors switching or capacitor
charging, may considerably affect
electrical devices – and some drive
companies report fewer failures of
input rectifiers when input chokes
are installed.
When the European
Electromagnetic Compatibility
(EMC) Directive and the G5/4
recommendation were introduced,
VSD manufacturers rushed to offer
radio frequency interference (RFI)
filters and chokes as part of a
holistic product range, but found
quickly that this detracted from

their core product offerings. More
In the UK the recently, drives manufacturers
useful power have been distancing themselves
supplied to a from offering anything other than
a standard range of core products
system is at a with minimum essential EMC
frequency of requirements, usually for
50 Hz and at industrial environments only and
unity power with short cable runs.
This simplifies the comparison
factor – process for users when choosing
anything that between different VSDs and makes
deviates from the buying decisions for
this will result in manufacturers and machine
builders a little more
higher costs straightforward, but clouds the
issue as regards standards
compliance and good engineering.
It is important to understand that
an installation that deviates from
the manufacturer’s test setup may
not comply with standards. So, the
onus is now on manufacturers,
systems integrators, machine
Past clients include:
builders and end users to
• RBS Mentor determine the EMC requirements
• at the
Carillion Facilities site where the VSD
Management
• Co-operative Group
equipment is being commissioned.
To address this trend, REO has a
• Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC)
range of resistive and inductive
Yorkshire Water wound components, compatible
Nottingham City Council with all VSDs and easily integrated
EDF Energy
into most systems.
These are used in order to
BT
counteract interfering phenomena
such as EMC problems, harmonic
ripple, voltage spikes, short-circuit
currents and interference currents.
Membership
Are you a leader in the energy
industry?
If you are working in a senior level energy-related role,
you could be eligible to upgrade your membership to
Fellow of the Energy Institute (FEI) status.
Fellowship of the EI is awarded to energy’s leaders and influencers,
providing the highest level of recognition for outstanding members
of the EI community.
Anyone can apply to become a Fellow. To be successful,
you’ll need to show that you have played a significant role in
providing innovation, problem-solving and thought-
leadership in the sector.
energy-inst.org/membership
And also to meet the demands of
the current EMC and power quality
directives for clean energy
networks, without restricting
efficient plant operation.
Many renewable and marine
applications are moving towards
water cooling, because it offers
superior environmental protection
for drive systems and also
improved reliability and lower
component size. A water-cooled
brake resistor can be as much as
half the size of its air cooled
equivalent, yet still can function
for five minutes at continuous
power without any coolant. The
heated water produced can also be
integrated into heating system or
process to improve efficiency of the
installation overall.
Site surveys
Part of REO’s day-to-day activities
involves carrying out site surveys
and making recommendations
on power quality based on the
findings. We were recently asked to
look at a site that was experiencing
some reliability issues. The site
was using a large number of high
current DC power supplies.
The phase current was
approximately 1,500 A, but this
comprised a number of higher
order harmonics and in particular
the fifth harmonic. We determined
that this was the first issue that
Visit our
website to
find out
more
Energy management
should be addressed and
subsequently designed and fitted
appropriate harmonic filtering. The
result was two-fold: an increase in
power quality with an
improvement in process reliability
– this was evident by reduced
numbers of fuse failure, but also a
500 A reduction in metered
current. For a site that operates
continuously the payback period
on the filtering equipment is
impressively short.
This example is perhaps one of
the clearest to illustrate the cost
savings that go hand-in-hand with
power quality engineering. A 500 A
reduction in metered current on a
1500 A application represents a
cost reduction of one-third.
Imagine combining this kind of
saving with more conventional
energy reduction methods. So,
instead of thinking of the cost of
power quality, think instead of
saving money and improving
power quality into the bargain. l
Steve Hughes is with REO UK , a
manufacturer of resistive and inductive
wound components for use with static
frequency converter drives, www.reo.co.uk
Book now
Energy Institute

YOUNG PROFESSIONALS

A lack of energy tax hurts

the majority
We kick off a new series of articles from EI Young doing this is compelling and
intuitive.
Professionals Networks around the country with Of course, there are negatives
an article suggesting a progressive energy tax, associated, primarily that no-one
(myself included) wants to pay
from Ewan Frost-Pennington from the London more in energy bills. Politically this
and Home Counties YPN. type of measure has been
impossible to implement – in fact,

H
igh energy prices have
historically been followed
by innovation and
increased energy efficiency as they
justify greater investment into
reducing energy use and ultimately
carbon emissions. An energy tax
replicates this, while also providing
tax revenues that can be reinvested
elsewhere. Despite the obvious
benefits, no one wants to pay extra
for energy, so how can it be made
politically palatable?
In 1973 the price of oil jumped
from $25 to $46 per barrel, a price
spike that caused upheaval of
energy systems in Europe. The
great innovation that followed still
can be seen today. It is speculated
that it triggered almost universal
district heating in Copenhagen and
large investment in nuclear and
North Sea oil, and even led to the
release of the ultra-economical
Mini Cooper. Similarly, an increase
in the energy prices for domestic
houses could lead to greater energy
efficiency and on-site renewable
generation.
It is therefore understandable
that an energy tax has allure for
policymakers, with the promise of
stimulating energy efficiency and
innovation within the sector, while
also receiving greater revenues.
Promoting self-generation and
energy efficiency measures
through taxation would not only
save the UK and its citizens overall
energy spend in the long term, but
also create jobs and drive
innovation in the sector, which
could subsequently be exported to
other countries. The evidence for
the government does the opposite
and subsidises energy. The
reduction of VAT from 20% to 5%
and the recent imposition of an
energy price cap has resulted in ‘The concept [of
lower prices, increasing energy a progressive
usage.
This policy is pursued for noble
energy tax] is
reasons under the guise of like income tax,
preventing fuel poverty. However, penalising those
as it is the wealthy who use the who use
most energy (and carbon),
subsidising consumption is
substantially
essentially ‘anti-Robin Hood’ – more energy
stealing from the majority to than the rest of
subsidise the rich. society’
A progressive energy tax Ewan Frost-
A progressive energy tax would Pennington
mitigate this, while also capturing
the benefits previously mentioned.
The tax would function by

EI London and Home Counties Young Professionals Network

Welcome to the first in the series of viewpoint articles from We would like to thank CNOOC Petroleum UK for its continued
the EI Young Professional Networks (YPN) from around the UK. support, as well as to each of our individual event sponsors.
Over the next five months you’ll hear voices from young energy If you or your company wish to support our network then please
professionals talking about issues important to them. email ypnlondonhc@energyinst.org Don’t forget to follow us on
The EI YPN was formed in 2013 with the intent of reaching into Twitter (@EIYPNLondon), and you can connect with us on LinkedIn
the energy industry to support young professionals from all areas and Facebook.
of the industry. This includes students, graduates and anyone in
the early stages of their career.
Through a variety of networking opportunities these branches
help individuals to develop in their fields. We want our members to
broaden their understanding of the wider industry, to discuss the
important topics and to build their networks.
In London, we do this by hosting monthly evening networking
events. These vary from panel speakers featuring prominent
experts, keynote lectures from eminent figures in energy and fun
socials where you can rub shoulders with the future leaders of the
energy industry.
After the success of hosting Jeremy Leggett in January and an
all-star panel debate at IP Week, we are keeping the momentum
going. Join us next month for our discussion on distributed energy:
‘The Many, Not the Few: The New World of Distributed Energy’,
hosted at the London Business School. We follow that up with the
second run of our YPN.FutureTech in May and don’t forget to sign
up to our field trip to a wind farm. The London and Home Counties YPN Committee

24 Energy World | March 2019

 Energy Institute

consumption below the taxable

threshold. The target could also
move in line with what is
reasonable energy consumption
based on the technologies
available. This would have the
benefit that it still informs today’s
business cases without actually
causing difficulties for people in the
near term, which would also allow
development within the industry
at an organic rate. l

Ewan Frost-Pennington is an Energy and

Climate Change Consultant for Arup and a
London and Home Counties YPN Committee
Member.

Figure 1. Progressive London and Home Counties

energy tax allocating everyone in the country
a tax-free (or even subsidised)
proportion of energy which
would continue to combat fuel
poverty, whereas beyond a certain
threshold the tax would begin to
increase. The concept is like income
tax, penalising those who use
substantially more energy than
the rest of society. South Korea
and Japan already implement a
measure like this, demonstrating
that it is technically possible, even
with analogue meters.
The concept described is
illustrated by Figure 1, which
indicates how those penalised are
only those that use excessive
energy (generally those who are
very affluent).
To further counter the
arguments of opponents, the
technology now exists to track the
tax paid and then provide it as
credit that the payer can spend on
specific energy efficiency
programmes, so they still have a
net gain. This could revolutionise
the energy efficiency sector.
Finally, to make such a tax more
palatable, it could be deferred for a
period so that people have ample
warning to invest in measures
necessary to get their energy
ypnlondonhc@energyinst.org
South West South Wales
ypnswsw@energyinst.org
Aberdeen, Highlands and Islands
ypnaberdeen@energyinst.org
North West North Wales
ypnnwnw@energyinst.org
North Eastern
ypnnortheastern@energyinst.org
Yorkshire
ypnyh@energyinst.org
Northern Ireland
ypnni@energyinst.org

Membership Book now

Just starting out

in energy?
Join your local EI Young
Professionals Network (YPN)

• Career advice
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briefings Find your
• Social events
nearest YPN - visit:
• Networking energyinst.org/
ei-near-me/uk
Energy in conversation

R&D

Priorities for UK
energy research
In last month’s interview, EI President Malcolm
Brinded CBE FREng talked about the huge
improvement in the availability of energy to
populations globally, as well as the continuing
challenges for the most vulnerable and those in
growing urban centres. In this second instalment,
Energy World editor Steve Hodgson asks about
priorities for the UK energy research community.

Malcolm, I’d like to discuss UK
energy research priorities in
the global energy context. To
increase access to energy while
simultaneously addressing climate
change, where should the UK
prioritise energy research?
Research and innovation must be
our first ports of call for the biggest
energy and climate challenges
the world faces, especially where
our trajectory to a solution
is still unclear. And I should
acknowledge up front the UK’s
proud history in energy research
and innovation – some of the most
significant advances have been
made in universities and company
laboratories in Britain.
Building on this, we should
ensure we have a good
understanding of global challenges
– and then focus our research
where we have some intrinsic,
differentiated and sustainable
capability, and have a chance of
turning successful research into
real national competitive
advantage.
To what particular challenges
should the UK energy research
community address itself?
Let me start with the UK’s own
energy and climate challenges.
Power and light vehicle transport
often seem to claim 90% of the
air time – and I guess almost
as much of the research effort.
But it’s becoming easier to see
the pathways to lower carbon at
reasonable costs in both these
areas. So I suggest the two highest
priority challenges for researchers
to focus on for the UK are heat
– that’s residential, commercial
and industrial – and the built
environment – and, within that,
energy poverty.
In both these areas, the
technical and policy solutions are
much less clear.
What do you see as the biggest
challenges within these two areas?
First, energy poverty. I find it
shocking that 2.5mn households
in the UK are fuel poor – which
means at least 6mn people live
in fuel poor homes; and that
percentage has not materially
changed in the last 15 years.
This especially impacts the more
vulnerable in our society, where
23% of households of lone parents
with dependent children live in
fuel poverty.
Progress has been made in the
past few years with the increased
number of fuel poor who are now
in Energy Performance Certificate
Band D housing – which I would
suggest could be defined as ‘pretty
bad but not terrible’. But the 2030
target of all fuel-poor being in
reasonably efficient homes at
Band C or better is still a very long
way off.
Solutions could include
lower-cost insulation of new
homes, easier insulation retrofit to
old homes, or more efficient,
lower-cost boilers and heat pumps.
I don’t know the answers – but
very little R&D seems to be focused
on this chronic issue.
How about the other big challenge
you mentioned, decarbonising heat?
Heat is responsible for around a
third of the UK’s greenhouse gas
emissions. More than 80% of that
heat today comes from gas, coal
and oil – so this is not immediately
helped by decarbonising power.
Residential sector heat is only
one part of the picture – business
and industrial heat
decarbonisation will be key to
reaching the UK 2050 carbon
target. Again, this is an area where
the winning technologies are less
clear than for power and cars.
For example, it’s clear that heat
pumps, low carbon district heating
Malcolm Brinded CBE,
FREng, EI President and decarbonising the gas grid will
all feature, but the right mix is very
uncertain. What’s vital, in
developing technologies and
evaluating options, is to take a
system-wide view, recognising
that artificial intelligence (AI) and
big data enabled control systems,
innovative business models and
regulatory and pricing signals
could all play as big a role in
triggering impact at scale as
getting the right core technology.
I don’t know the pathways that
will win – I just know that
decarbonising heat needs more
intense R&D focus.
Are there any pathways that seem
particularly promising to you?
One is the potential for
substituting hydrogen for natural
gas in our existing gas network.
I’m impressed by the studies by
Northern Gas Networks and its

26 Energy World | March 2019


partners into the potential for
converting the UK network to
hydrogen – first the H21 Leeds
City Gate project and then the
more ambitious H21 North of
England report. Decarbonising gas
with hydrogen has potential cost
and practical advantages to other
heat solutions, which are worth
exploring in detail.
Looking further afield now, what
do you see as promising areas for
UK research to have significant
global impact?
Let me first stress that UK
researchers should put much
more priority on the challenges of
low and middle-income countries
– because that is where the largest
impact on the climate challenge
can be achieved and where the
biggest business opportunities
will lie. That said, decarbonising
freight and aviation are
challenges for the entire world.
Freight transport already
causes 8% of all global greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions; of which
three-quarters comes from trucks
and one-quarter from shipping,
with both growing very fast.
These are areas where it is much
more difficult to displace oil than
in light vehicle transport.
On trucks, the International
Energy Agency did an excellent
review of road freight transport in
2017. Their headline reference
case states that, with major
efficiency and fuel mix
improvements, GHG emissions
would ‘only’ increase by 55% by
2050. I say ‘only’ – but that’s pretty
hopeless when a 2°C world needs
at least a 50% reduction - not a
50% increase!
They then studied options to
radically reduce from this
reference case – such as less truck
activity via AI-enabled logistics
management; higher truck load
factors and consolidation to
bigger fleets; the use of advanced
biofuels and electrification; and
the introduction of ultra-efficient
vehicles, with autonomous
driving enabling very close
proximity convoys.
How about one of the most difficult
areas to decarbonise – aviation?
Absolutely. Aviation is especially
challenging – and although
representing only 2% of global
GHG emissions today, this is set
to triple by 2050, even allowing
for very significant fuel efficiency
increases.
There is also concern around
non-carbon dioxide warming
effects of aviation, from ozone and
vapour trails, which potentially
more than double the warming
Energy in conversation
impact compared to just the term drops in GHG emissions –
carbon dioxide. So the aviation which seem to me distinctly
sector needs radical change – to over-optimistic, given the
improve aircraft fuel efficiency backdrop of human aspirations in
and to accelerate the shift to emerging economies and less
alternative fuels. In fuels, developed countries that I
advanced biofuels seem the most described in my interview last
promising, but are little used so month (bit.ly/2ROCxAC). This
far. Turbine adaptation and adds to the urgency to focus on
materials technology will low carbon solutions best suited
presumably also be key. Surely to meet the needs for such
these are prime areas for UK economies whose energy usage is
researchers? increasing so rapidly.
All IPCC pathways rely on the
The challenges of meeting global significant use of GHG removal
energy demand and averting this century and achieving net
dangerous climate change will negative emissions from around
require herculean effort. Do 2050 onwards. I think the
you think the UK has the right significant overshoot pathway is
approach overall? probably more plausible.
I am truly optimistic about As the recent Royal Society/
what innovative technology and Royal Academy of Engineering
business can together achieve, report said, the most suitable GHG
given the right enabling policies removal measures to focus on are
and financial support. Let me probably afforestation and
stress, we are surely right to reforestation; land restoration
want the UK, the EU and the and soil carbon sequestration; and
OECD to maintain their records of bioenergy with carbon capture,
improving energy efficiency and usage and storage (CCUS).
reducing GHG emissions at pace. The IPCC report perhaps
However, that’s almost a sideshow underestimates the contribution
in terms of where the world’s that CCUS could play in reducing
climate future will be played out. GHG emissions from coal and
Look at the IEA forecasts. Even gas-fired power generation, and
on its ‘New Policies’ scenario, the from industrial processes in the
world’s energy demand is still period to 2050. This would enable
expected to grow by over 25% by the costs of CCUS technology to be
2040, driven by development in driven down. But of course, this
Asia-Pacific, Africa and South requires rapid roll-out of not just
America. The real priority is to demonstration or one-off CCUS
find lower-carbon routes for this projects, but of CCUS on an
growth, which surely represents a industrial scale.
major opportunity for UK
research and for UK-based What are your takeaways from all
entrepreneurs and investors. these challenges? And where does
I gave evidence last month to UK energy research fit in?
the Commons Science and In prioritising UK energy research,
Technology Select Committee on we must look at global, not just
just this point. That the UK, needs, and at where energy
government’s industrial and clean usage and emissions are set to
growth strategies could achieve grow most rapidly. We should
more for the UK economy and for focus on supporting early-stage
overseas development, and much entrepreneurs with genuinely
more in terms of cost-effective disruptive and scaleable solutions
global GHG emission reduction, which address the challenges
by setting their sights beyond the of emerging economies. And
UK’s shores and supporting I would again reinforce the
early-stage innovative start-ups significance of CCUS – where
focusing on the energy and the UK has the potential to be
transport challenges of lower and a pioneer, developing a whole-
middle-income countries. system capability that could be
a significant export, particularly
And what are your thoughts on given the major need for CCUS
how the IPCC 1.5°C report fits into for a 2°C, and especially a 1.5°C
this? world. ●
It sets out unequivocally that a
1.5°C ecosystem is much better
than a 2°C one – 99% of coral
reefs dying in a 2°C world is the
starkest call-to-arms one could
have.
However, nearly all the IPCC
pathways to achieve 1.5°C assume
massive and very rapid short-
Energy World | March 2019 27
Low carbon
CCS
New technology options
broaden the scope for carbon
capture and storage
How is the global development of carbon capture and storage proceeding? That partly
depends on who you ask, writes Mark Rowe. Yet several promising new approaches are
emerging and there are signs that investors are beginning to trust the technology.
A
technology entwined with
fossil fuels that, by the of
2018, boasted 43 large-
scale facilities, (18 in commercial
operation, five in construction and
20 in development), and which
processed almost 40mn t/y of
carbon dioxide, is clearly more
than a passing fad. Yet proponents
of carbon capture and storage (CCS)
have asserted for more than 20
years that the technology holds the
key to meeting the world’s carbon
emissions reduction targets. This
claim, however, has far from been
demonstrated.
In total, 230mn tonnes of
carbon dioxide have been injected
underground through CCS systems.
The world’s largest coal-fired
power plant with carbon capture
technology is Petra Nova, in
Houston, US, and it captures about
1.4mn tonnes of carbon dioxide
each year.
China has more than 20 CCS
facilities at different scales of
progressive development and
planning. In Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates (UAE), CCS is
being embraced by a number of
industrial facilities, and in the
Netherlands, Norway and the UK,
CCS ‘hub and cluster’ developments
are progressing.
A small fraction
Yet the other way of looking at this
data is to point out that 40mn t/y
represents barely 0.1% of global
carbon dioxide emissions.
John Scowcroft, Executive
Adviser at the Global CCS Institute,
is encouraged by the United
Could CCS prolong the use of fossil fuel-
fired power stations, such as this unit in
Ashkelon, Israel?
Photo: MinoZig
28 Energy World | March 2019
Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change talks in Katowice,
Poland, at the end of 2018. ‘The
IPCC reports conclude you cannot
economically meet the targets
without CCS,’ he said. ‘In Katowice,
CCS was not being discussed in the
negotiating room but it was there
in the side events held by the EU,
China and the UK.’
The Paris Agreement was ‘a
game changer for CCS’, noted Luke
Warren, Chief Executive of the UK’s
Carbon Capture and Storage
Association (CCSA). ‘Until then,
carbon targets were always 15
years ahead and involved
efficiency and reduction. Paris is
about net zero emissions – that is a
fundamentally different challenge.
CCS keeps cropping up.’
Others believe there are two
sides to the coin. ‘If you look at all
global climate models, CCS is
always part of the solution,’ said
Justin Ong, Carbon Capture Policy
Lead for ClearPath, a Washington
DC-based organisation that
advocates for clean energy. ‘But
there’s a bunch of reasons why
carbon capture has not got the
same attention as other carbon-
reducing technologies such as
solar, wind and LED lighting.’
The financial community is less
familiar with how to finance CCS
projects – many of which are
located in different regions, said
Ong, so must be tailored to the type
of source of carbon dioxide
emissions they are taking up. ‘It’s
hard for financial organisations to
say it’s the same [drop-in]
technology they would back when
it comes to solar or wind.’
Yet it now seems that the
potential for developments, which
in turn may yield new business
models, is offering hope for

Two views of carbon capture
technology used at a coal
mine operated by US-based
Peabody Energy
Photos: Peabody Energy
advocates of CCS: ‘We are starting
to see support for CCS come online
and trickle through,’ said Ong.
Opportunities in the US
In the US, a tax credit – called
‘45Q’ was enacted in 2018, thanks,
perhaps unexpectedly, to a budget
Another area of bill signed by President Donald
development is a Trump. Though his agenda was to
process known support fossil fuels and the nuclear
as Direct Air industry rather than the potential
side-effect of cutting emissions
Capture, through CCS.
whereby carbon This performance-based tax
dioxide is credit is available to power plants
removed directly and industrial facilities that
capture and store carbon dioxide
from the that would otherwise be emitted
atmosphere into the atmosphere. To receive the
through capture credit, the carbon dioxide must be
technologies stored geologically or be utilised as
a feedstock or component of
that bind or stick products.
removable The move is significant, said
substances to Ong, but is also another example of
carbon dioxide a hurdle not faced by most other
carbon emissions reduction
technologies. ‘You have to verify
that the carbon dioxide will stay in
Low carbon
to turn a combustion turbine.
NET Power says it intends to
begin constructing 300 MW class
commercial-scale plants by 2021.
‘This would drastically reduce the
costs of carbon capture and make it
competitive with costs of a gas
plant,’ said Ong, noting this would
help with getting the supply chain
and financial institutions more
comfortable with funding.
Direct capture in Europe
Another area of development is
a process known as Direct Air
Capture (DAC), whereby carbon
dioxide is removed directly
from the atmosphere through
capture technologies that bind
or stick removable substances to
carbon dioxide. DAC is operated
successfully by Zurich-based
Climeworks, which uses filters to
capture carbon dioxide emitted
from a waste incinerator near the
city.
Filters on the roof of the waste
the ground, which is a pretty plant are aided by fans to suck in
reasonable requirement, but it does ambient air. The air with reduced
add more challenges. It’s very likely carbon dioxide content is blown
the carbon dioxide will not leak but out again, while the filters are
it’s difficult for scientists to say saturated with carbon dioxide
with 100% certainty that this within a few hours. The saturated
would be the case.’ filter is heated to about 100°C by
A key development is the newer using waste heat from the plant.
concept of Carbon Capture, The high purity carbon dioxide is
Utilisation and Storage (CCUS), isolated and transferred to
whereby the carbon dioxide industrial greenhouses via gas
recovered is re-used rather than pipelines, where it is used as
merely stored. ‘CCUS is definitely fertiliser.
needed, it’s a business opportunity Ong describes a combination of
that can supplement other amine and membrane technology
activities,’ said Ong, who cautions as: ‘the next phase’ of such
this will not of itself be a panacea. technologies: ‘Currently, amine
Ong cites the potential for using sees you spray and latch onto the
CCUS to make bricks from locally carbon dioxide and filter it out at a
captured carbon. ‘The problem is later stage. With membrane
that there is not a market for technology added to that you have
making bricks. If you have a coal surfaces that allow the carbon
plant responsible for 90% of local dioxide to pass through.’
emissions, CCUS for bricks might Ong sees DAC having longevity,
take out 10% of those.’ partly because he feels the wider
However, Ong describes as public will buy into the idea, which
‘transformational’ the potential for will encourage investors who are
NET Power’s demonstration wary of being accused of
combustion power plant at La supporting a technology that
Porte, Texas, which processes and perpetuates the use of fossil fuels.
produces pure and compressed ‘It’s taking carbon dioxide direct
carbon dioxide. A collaboration from the air and it’s on a modular
between Exelon Generation, scale that is similar to wind and
McDermott, and 8 Rivers Capital solar technology. It can be financed
and Oxy Low Carbon Ventures (the on a smaller scale.’ Ong believes
latter subject to regulatory that DAC can bring costs of CCS
approval), the company’s 50 MW down by between 50% and 80%.
plant operates an oxy-fuel, When it comes to the prospects
supercritical carbon dioxide power for DAC, long-sightedness is
cycle. another virtue, according to
This produces electricity Scowcroft, who cites the
efficiently while eliminating air experience of the costs of solar.
emissions. The system burns ‘The cost of DAC is put at about
natural gas with oxygen, as €330 of carbon per tonne – look at
opposed to air. Instead of using the cost of solar 30 years ago and
steam, the cycle uses high-pressure the costs were similar. The costs
carbon dioxide as a working fluid will come down – and companies
Energy World | March 2019 29
Low carbon
will take the view that they have to
decarbonise and use the
technology at some point. That’s
why prices dropped for
renewables.’
BECCS, CV2 to the fore
Another option is ‘Bioenergy
with CCS’ (BECCS), whereby
carbon dioxide emissions are
removed from the atmosphere
through the application of CCS
to the transformation of trees
and crops into energy fuels. This
is then applied to ethanol plants
and to carbon dioxide storage in
enhanced oil recovery (EOR).
At its factory in Illinois, US, the
giant agribusiness Archer Daniels
Midland captures emissions from
its ethanol plant and traps them in
the layer of sandstone that lies
beneath the Illinois corn belt; in
addition, the process captures
carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere at the same time as it
captures emissions released by
fermenting corn. This, says
Scowcroft, makes the process
‘carbon negative’. However, he
argues there are still
environmental challenges with
BECCS around competing for land
resources and wood.
This means that Scowcroft is
also wary of another development,
C2V, or ‘Carbon to Value’. In this
process, carbon dioxide is used to
manufacture new products,
including fertiliser feedstock (for
instance SABIC, in Saudi Arabia),
soda ash (Carbon Clean Solutions,
in India), foams used in mattresses
and upholstered furniture
(Covestro in Germany) and bricks
and cement (Australia’s Mineral
Carbonation International).
In the SABIC programme,
carbon dioxide is captured and
purified from an existing ethylene
glycol production facility located in
Jubail, on the Gulf. It is
subsequently transported via
pipeline, for utilisation, mainly as a
feedstock for production of
methanol, urea, oxy-alcohols, and
polycarbonates.
Scowcroft is wary of a
technology that effectively offsets
the pumping of carbon dioxide into
the atmosphere. ‘If carbon goes
back into the atmosphere then we
are not solving anything,’ he
claimed. ‘We have to address the
permanent removal of carbon.’
Others in the industry are wary
of CCUS and innovative
technologies that may come under
its umbrella. Warren believes that
DAC may play a small part in CCS’s
future but that the key focus must
be on storing carbon, rather than
recycling it: to be carbon negative
rather than carbon neutral. ‘The
30 Energy World | March 2019
caveat [with DAC] is that we need
The technology to be storing millions of tonnes of
for storing carbon. These technologies are not
carbon is pretty scalable to the extent that is
required.’
well established, When it comes to performance
given the oil and loss, new technologies may not
gas sector in the even be necessary in order to
US has been strengthen the case for CCS, argues
Scowcroft. Only two of the world’s
injecting it into major 18 CCS projects are at power
the ground for stations. The rest are places where
40 years it is fairly easy to capture or
remove the carbon dioxide, he
noted.
He cited the example of
SaskPower’s Boundary Dam
160 MW CCS project, in
Saskatchewan, Canada, which uses
CCS to cap emissions from cheap
coal reserves nearby. Energy losses
were put at 30% when it opened in
2014. ‘They worked out they could
make significant savings just from
what they learnt about
engineering. The more you build,
the more you learn. Boundary Dam
was a first of its kind, they now
recognise they over-engineered,’
said Scowcroft.
Clusters of polluting industries
In Europe, efficiencies can
more easily be made by taking
advantage of the clusters of
polluting industries. Scowcroft
noted areas such as Teesside,
Merseyside, Antwerp and
Rotterdam – ports where all
industries that are emitting
are close together, where a
transmission system for carbon
dioxide could be designed that
all these emitters can lock into:
‘From an economic view it makes
much more sense if you share the
costs of the pipeline, though there
are issues about who is going to
operate it.’
Such diversification will boost
CCS projects more widely, argued
Ong, who believes CCS plants will
be able to facilitate more than one
conversion technology. He predicts
CCS will offer integration. Most
carbon capture is used for EOR
projects, but they could also offer
power generation and gain tax
credits in addition. One of those
values on its own will not move
the project forward: ‘but if you
combine them in some way it
changes the picture’.
A similar pooling approach may
evolve to help cut costs when it
comes to storing the captured
carbon, said Warren. The
technology for storing carbon is
pretty well established, he noted,
given the oil and gas sector in the
US has been injecting it into the
ground for 40 years. Warren
forecasts carbon being piped – or
freighted by ship – to storage
points: ‘Sustainable geology [for
storage] isn’t distributed equally
around the world. We’re only
starting to look at how we move
carbon dioxide between countries.’
Predictability and long-term risks
Scowcroft concluded that the case
for business funding of CCS is
now strong, with a lack of money
now not a problem: ‘It is more a
question of policy predictability
and power risks allocation and
how you make risks across the
chain manageable. When you have
people doing the capturing and
others the storage and operating
the infrastructure, the question is
of apportioning the risks.’
These are very small but come
with great consequences if
something goes wrong – as with
the nuclear industry, who is going
to bear the risks?
According to Warren, this goes
to the heart of the lessons learnt
from the UK’s abandoned CCS pilot
projects, such as the Shell-SSE
scheme in Aberdeenshire, Scotland,
which was projected to capture
10–15mn tonnes of carbon dioxide
over 15 years. ‘You need to develop
a deep partnership between
government and industry and it
needs to be sustained over a deep
period of time,’ he explained.
Projects take eight years or so to
come into operation and that cuts
across electoral cycles: ‘Industry
needs to know government won’t
change its mind.’
One problem, said Scowcroft, is
the long-term nature of storage.
‘You may pay a certain amount per
tonne of carbon under the EU’s
Emissions Trading scheme – but
will there even be a trading
scheme in 50 years’ time? Up to a
certain point it may be the insurer
but after that will governments
step in as the insurer of last resort?
That may have to be the case.’ ●
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Low carbon
TARGETS
Why companies
need science-based
emissions targets
National governments have traditionally been the drivers
behind carbon emissions reduction initiatives. But there is
a growing opportunity for private sector organisations to
show leadership of their own. Emma Watson explains why
ambitious target setting is key.
O
ur current commitment
under the Paris Agreement
is to keep global temperature
rise this century well below 2°C
above pre-industrial levels – and
to pursue efforts to limit the
temperature increase to 1.5°C. But
the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC)’s latest report
outlined several climate change
impacts that could be avoided by
limiting warming to 1.5°C compared
to 2°C.
At 2°C warming, 10mn more
people will be exposed to sea level
rise risk, and we expect a loss of 99%
of cover of warm water coral reefs
– versus 70% to 90% at 1.5°C.
Making it clear that the
international community has very
32 Energy World | March 2019
few years left to act, the IPCC report
called on governments to adopt
climate-resilient development
pathways that limit warming to
1.5°C and support efforts to
eliminate poverty.
The report defines four ways to
achieve 1.5°C using various
arrangements of land use and
technological change. Sounds
simple, right?
But it’s not just about
government policy. If businesses
ignore the impending impact of
global warming and the part they
play, then they are exposing their
business, their employees and their
shareholders to unknown and
material financial risk.
So individually and collectively,
businesses have a major role in
helping to transition to a zero
carbon economy and to adopt
targets that align with global
commitments to prevent world
temperatures rising dangerously
above 1.5°C. The most robust and
credible way that businesses can
commit to doing this is to set
science-based targets (SBTs).
Targeting emissions
Scientists understand the level of
action needed worldwide to keep
global warming within safe limits,
but how does this apply to a single
organisation? SBTs can help to
translate the level of action needed
globally down to the individual
business level.
The Science Based Targets
initiative (SBTi) was spearheaded by
the WWF, UN Global Compact, the
World Resources Institute and the
Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), and
was created to help companies
understand how to demonstrate
their commitment to the Paris
Agreement.
The SBTi supports companies by
providing resources to set targets, as
well as by validating targets as
‘science-based’. A greenhouse gas
(GHG) emission reduction target can
be considered ‘science-based’ if the
emission reductions it stipulates are
in line with keeping the global
temperature increase well below
2°C compared to pre-industrial
temperatures.
To date, over 500 companies are
Figure 1. Summary of
the three scopes committed to taking science-based
Source: Carbon climate action and 160 companies
Credentials have SBTi-approved targets. In the
UK these include a diverse range of
businesses across the real estate,
retail, food and beverage and
construction sectors.
By aligning targets with the level
of decarbonisation needed to keep
global temperature rise below
dangerous levels, companies can
ensure their targets are meaningful
and work towards avoiding the
worst effects of climate change.
Carbon Credentials recommends
organisations set science-based
targets using a four-step process:
Calculate your full footprint, engage
with stakeholders, select a
methodology and calculate your
target and develop a strategy.
Step 1: Ensure you have calculated
your full carbon footprint
A recent report from the Climate
Disclosure Standards Board found
that only 39% of companies are
reporting Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
It is essential to have calculated all
relevant Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions

Sector Based
Absolute Based
Economic Based
to achieve validation by the SBTi.
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is
the most widely used accounting
standard for GHG emissions. The
GHG Protocol defines and
categorises an organisation’s
emissions within three ‘scopes’.
• Scope 1 emissions, or ‘direct’
emissions, are first-hand
emissions from sources that are
owned or controlled by the
organisation. This might
include, for example, natural gas
combusted in a boiler at a
company’s head office.
• Scope 2 emissions, or ‘indirect’
emissions are emissions from
purchased electricity, heat,
steam or cooling consumed by
the company, but generated
elsewhere.
• Scope 3 emissions (other
indirect emissions) occur as a
consequence of the organisation
but are not directly owned or
controlled by that organisation.
The GHG Protocol Scope 3
guidance outlines 15 different
Scope 3 categories and each
should be assessed in terms of
their materiality in order to
understand what should be
reported. For example, emissions
from the treatment of waste
generated by a company are
Scope 3 emissions.
See Figure 1.
Once an organisation has
calculated its full footprint, it can
begin to understand its emission
hotspots and set targets accordingly.
Step 2: Engage with stakeholders to
achieve buy-in
Businesses can begin their
education on science-based targets
by reviewing methodologies and
consulting case studies from
businesses in similar sectors to see
how they approached the process.
Once business leaders
understand what SBTs are, they can
inform stakeholders of the process
of setting them and communicate
their benefits – from limiting
climate warming, improving brand
reputation, creating competitive
advantage and reducing costs.
Business decision makers should
also create a map of internal and
external stakeholders to identify the
most influential groups, as well as
those that are likely to be most
involved in delivering the target.
There are many different routes
to stakeholder engagement.
Companies could consider
conducting surveys, interviews and
workshops to clarify the drivers,
benefits and challenges of setting
an SBT. They could also explore any
existing initiatives and further
possibilities for achieving emissions
reductions, to assess what’s possible
in the short, medium and long term.
By exploring the idea of setting
an ambitious target and its
potential benefits, leaders will begin
to understand whether this process
is right for them. With commitment
from around the business, an
organisation can begin its journey
to achieving ambitious emission
cuts.
Step 3: Select a methodology and
calculate your target
The SBTi has seven different target
setting methodologies which fall
under three main approaches.
Understanding which of these
methodologies is best for an
organisation depends on the
company’s geography, plans for
growth and the sector it operates in.
See Figure 2.
Step 4: Develop a strategy to hit
targets
Science-based emission reduction
figures can seem challenging, but
with a clear short, medium and
long-term strategy in place, targets
will seem more achievable.
In the short term, this means
Low carbon
gaining an understanding of
planned and potential emission
reduction projects and associated
investments. In the medium term,
this means gaining a high level of
understanding of the opportunities
available for reducing and cleaning
up fossil fuel consumption, leaving
room to develop concrete plans over
time.
It’s important to remember that
SBTs mean reducing any
organisation’s fair share of
emissions, so if an organisation does
not reduce its emissions in line with
the scientific trajectory to reach 2°C,
then others will have to make up
this shortfall – but this cannot be
achieved in isolation.
Figure 2. Trends in global
energy use by fuel type
Each business will need to work
in collaboration with employees,
Source: OECD
suppliers, customers and investors.
The faster this process gets started,
the sooner businesses can adapt to
future economic and/or business
changes and mitigate future risk.
Reducing harmful GHG emissions
is not just the right thing for the
planet – carefully-executed targets
will ultimately ensure the
longevity of companies and global
industries. ●
Emma Watson is a Consultant at Carbon
Credentials, www.carboncredentials.com
Carbon Credentials is an independent
energy performance and carbon compliance
consultancy.
Case Study: Tesco
International retailer Tesco became the first corporation
worldwide to align science-based targets with an
ambitious 1.5°C scenario to become zero carbon by 2050.
In just 12 months Tesco confirmed that it had already
reduced emissions by 13% in 2018 against its 2016
baseline.
The retail giant worked closely with Carbon Credentials
to develop its credible and realistic science-based
targets. This was achieved by using a combination
of methodologies to model absolute and intensity
targets, Scope 3 emissions, and 1.5°C and 2°C scenarios
in comparison to Tesco’s previous 2050 zero carbon
ambition.
Tesco’s Scope 3 emissions were screened, showing a
solid understanding of its value chain impacts. As these
emissions constitute over 40% of its overall footprint,
Scope 3 targets were set to meet SBTi criteria.
Tesco chose an ambitious SBT aligned with a 1.5°C
warming scenario. It also set 2°C aligned targets for its
supply chain. This equates to absolute GHG emission
reduction targets of 35% by 2020, 60% by 2025 and 100%
by 2050.
With rigorous assessment, robust analytics and
practical recommendations from Carbon Credentials,
the Tesco climate change team demonstrated it fully
understood the costs, benefits and feasibility of setting its
science-based targets.
This enabled the team to secure agreement from
Tesco senior leadership and approval from the SBTi. Tesco
publicly announced its targets in May 2017, to praise
from its stakeholders. The retailer is on track to achieving
its targets.
Energy World | March 2019 33
Low carbon
CARBON CAPTURE
Addressing measurement
challenges in CCUS
UK policymakers are expressing
renewed interest in carbon capture
and storage technologies. While
previous conversations have centred
around funding challenges, it’s now
time to think through the technical
execution, writes Norman Glen.
G
lobal energy demand is
predicted to double over the
next two decades. Although
significant progress has been
made in reducing the use of fossil
fuels, they will still be a significant
source of energy for many decades
to come. Therefore, reducing
the carbon dioxide emissions
associated with these energy
sources is crucial.
Carbon capture, utilisation and
Storage (CCUS) is regarded as one
of the solutions with the greatest
potential to tackle the problem of
climate change from the burning
of fossil fuels, but it is very much
an emerging technology that has
yet to be demonstrated fully and at
scale.
However, CCUS is also regarded
as a key enabling technology for
the large-scale displacement of
natural gas by hydrogen in gas
grids. Whilst the production of
hydrogen by electrolysis of water is
practical – and already widely used
– for small scale production,
large-scale production will be
based on stream reforming of
natural gas.
Although this is a mature
technology, the by-product is
One of the UK’s most carbon dioxide. Depending on the
advanced bioenergy carbon feedstock used, for each tonne of
capture pilots is underway
at Drax Power Station in hydrogen produced, 9 to 12 tonnes
Yorkshire of carbon dioxide are also
Photo: Drax produced.
34 Energy World | March 2019
Measurement and monitoring
One of the many technical
challenges to overcome in
establishing CCUS as a practical
operational process is effective
measurement and monitoring.
Accurate measurement will be
essential for environmental and
safety needs and fundamental
in reducing financial exposure in
carbon trading schemes.
To this end, the European Union
Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS)
Monitoring and Reporting
Guidelines set stringent
measurement and monitoring
criteria including flow
measurement, composition
measurement, leak detection and
quantification across the full CCUS
chain.
Transportation of the carbon
dioxide to its final utilisation or
storage destination is thought to
be most economical by pipeline,
particularly for large-scale
applications. However, compared
to other substances that are
transported by pipeline (eg oil,
natural gas and water), carbon
dioxide is unusual because its
critical temperature lies close to
ambient temperature, which is the
normal operating condition and
the region where most industrial
processes are carried out.
This means that even small
changes in pressure and
temperature may lead to rapid and
substantial changes in the physical
properties of carbon dioxide, such
as phase, density and
compressibility. Therefore, not
only is there a risk of changing
between phases, but also when
operating on or close to a phase
boundary, multiphase flow
conditions can arise.
The occurrence of phase
changes and multiphase flow
occurring at measurement points
will have a detrimental effect on
measurement accuracy, especially
when most measurement devices
are designed to operate only in
single phase, either gas or liquid.
Accurate metering
Flow metering is necessary for
regulatory measurement under
the EU ETS. This includes custody
transfer/fiscal metering, where
there is a transfer of ownership
in the pipeline; leakage detection;
and metering the various processes
across the CCUS network, including
controlling the volume of carbon
dioxide being injected into the
geological storage formation.
Under the EU ETS, for storage
applications the mass of annually
transferred carbon dioxide is
required to be determined within a
maximum uncertainty of less than
1.5%. For custody transfer
purposes, in particular for
utilisation applications, the
accuracy requirements may be
even more stringent.
To put the importance of
accurate flow measurement into
perspective, consider the UK’s
energy supply sector. In 2018,
carbon dioxide emissions from
power stations amounted to about
70mn tonnes. Each percentage of
uncertainty in flow measurement
could result in a €14mn exposure
in the trading scheme, based on a
carbon trading price of €20/tonne
(average for the last quarter of
2018).
Clearly there is an urgent need
to address the issues surrounding
flow measurement in carbon
dioxide transportation, to achieve
the uncertainty requirements in
the EU ETS. The specifications of
 Low carbon

The UK’s carbon capture ambitions

In November 2018, BEIS published an action plan for CCUS
deployment in the UK, which stated that the country should have
the option to deploy the technology at scale during the 2030s –
subject to significant cost reductions.
This year, the Department says it will commence detailed
engagement with industry on the critical challenges to delivering
CCUS in the UK, particularly with regards to cost structures, risk,
sharing arrangements and market mechanisms.
A handful of companies now lead the way with carbon capture
demonstration projects. One of the most advanced pilots is
currently underway at the Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire,
where technology developed by Leeds-based firm C-Capture is
capturing a tonne of carbon dioxide per day from the combustion
of biomass feedstock in a process known as bioenergy carbon
capture and storage (BECCS). The Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change has previously suggested that in emissions
pathways with limited or no temperature overshoot, some 400 Gt
of BECCS could be required this century.
Not everyone agrees – a study published last year in the journal
Nature Climate Change suggested that it is possible to limit
warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures without using
BECCS. Elsewhere, detractors have cited prohibitively high costs as
reasons to explore decarbonisation – rather than carbon capture.
Regardless of ongoing debate, the UK government has promised
to deliver a £20mn carbon capture demonstration programme by
March 2021 to support the construction of CCUS technologies at
industrial sites across the country.

the fluid and accurate accounting
of the carbon dioxide through all
sections of CCUS schemes must
also be achieved.
Composition of the carbon dioxide
stream
Composition measurement
is necessary to determine the
concentration of carbon dioxide
and to detect contaminants
present in the carbon dioxide
stream. This information is
essential in order to understand
the physical properties, chemistry
and behaviour of the carbon
dioxide mixture. Chemical analysis
of injected fluid and gas analysis,
using gas chromatographs and
spectrometers, can be used for
composition analysis.
The composition of the carbon
dioxide stream will, amongst other
things, affect the density,
compressibility and phase
envelope of the gas or liquid.
Therefore, in order to establish the
necessary pressures and
temperatures required to maintain
a stable phase and economical
transfer, knowledge of the
composition is vital.
Without this knowledge it
would be extremely difficult to
plan the CCUS processes and
achieve the necessary flow
conditions to maintain a stable
phase, ensuring safe and
economical transportation through
pipelines.
Physical properties and gas
behaviour
The presence of contaminants in
the carbon dioxide stream will
significantly alter the physical
properties from those of pure
carbon dioxide and it is the
physical properties of the carbon
dioxide stream that dictate
its behaviour under different
processes and conditions. This
is because the overall effect of
impurities in the stream is to
shift the phase boundary and
With the create two-phase regions with
renewed interest the associated impact on flow
in CCUS, it is measurement.
essential that a Although very accurate models
exist for calculating the physical
robust properties of pure carbon dioxide,
metrology the best currently available models
framework is that include the contaminants
put in place as likely in CCS streams have
uncertainties of at least 10% in
soon as possible density.
However, without accurate
knowledge of density, it will not be
possible to convert volumetric flow
to mass flow. Clearly, such models
are unacceptable for converting
from volumetric to mass flow
when trying to meet the ±1.5%
uncertainty target.
Further work, including
modelling and experimental
research, is therefore required to
obtain the necessary chemistry
and physical properties data to
allow the planning and design of
CCS schemes. In particular, the
development and validation of
robust equations of state from
carbon dioxide mixtures is
essential.
Leak detection and quantification
It is also vital that appropriate
measurements are in place to
detect and quantify leakage if
it should occur across the CCUS
network. This includes from above-
surface pipelines, buried pipelines,
sub-sea pipelines and from the
geological storage formations.
Although there are many
technologies in place for detecting
leakage from the storage
formation, the real challenge is to
quantify any and all leakage, and
this is an area which requires
urgent attention.
For pipelines, it is likely that a
combination of methods will be
used to detect carbon dioxide
leakage. These will include internal
measurements such as flow,
pressure and temperature, along
with external methods, such as
screening and sampling of the
surrounding environments.
Creating a framework
Whilst all of the challenges
discussed above were identified
during the first phase of interest in
industrial-scale carbon capture and
storage in the mid to late 2000s,
many still remain unresolved. With
the renewed interest in CCUS and,
in particular, its role in enabling
large-scale displacement of natural
gas by hydrogen in gas grids, it is
essential that a robust metrology
framework is put in place as soon
as possible.
The UK government’s National
Measurement System (NMS)
recognised this requirement and
invested in innovative R&D
facilities at NEL in East Kilbride,
near Glasgow to address some of
the key metrology issues. Together
with detailed technical reports,
NEL published technical guidance
notes and best practice guidelines
based on work undertaken on the
facilities.
Current work, supported by the
government through the NMS,
includes a project to develop
concept designs for primary flow
standard facilities capable of
covering the full range of
conditions required for CCUS
applications, whilst the original
fluid properties loop remains
available for much needed
research. ●
Norman Glen is Service Leader for
densitometers and physical properties of
fluids at TUV SUD NEL, tuv-sud.co.uk
TUV SUD NEL is the UK’s National
Measurement Institute for Flow
Measurement.

Energy World | March 2019 35

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