Decentralised energy - progress update
Powering ahead: Delivering low carbon energy for London
London First’s study Cutting the capital’s carbon footprint, commissioned from Buro Happold and launched in Oct 2008, set out the measures needed to meet the Mayor's target of decentralising a quarter of London's energy supply by 2025, as part of a city-wide strategy to cut carbon emissions.
In Jan 09, we established a group of London First members, which has worked with Isabel Dedring (Mayor’s Environment Adviser) to support the GLA and LDA in implementing these recommendations. One year on from the original report’s launch, substantial progress has been made:
Recommendation 1: Plan on a district scale and connect to the existing stock
Outcome: Decentralised energy networks now promoted in the Draft Replacement London Plan
Recommendation 2: Create 'intergrator' body within LDA to support planning and delivery
Outcome: A dedicated Decentralised Energy team has been established; £16m has been allocated over the next four years to identify and bring forward schemes, with a possible further £64m coming on stream from Europe.
Recommendation 3: Boroughs to produce energy masterplans
Outcome: A heat mapping and masterplanning exercise has begun, driven and funded by the LDA and the boroughs, and supported by creation of a London Heat Map.
The map provides the ability to gather new information from those seeking to invest in, develop or identify heat networks. It locates demand, both existing schemes and those in the pipeline, and crucially the long-term public sector heat loads (govt estates, hospitals, schools etc) that, when assembled, can act as 'anchors' to new networks and help secure stable, long term returns.
Recommendation 4: Adopt a PPP approach to delivery, with the public sector unlocking and de-risking schemes to help attract the private investment required to build this new energy infrastructure
Outcome: A prospectus, drafted by our group, working with the GLA, LDA and Department of Energy and Climate Change, describes the regulatory, policy and funding context for investment, setting out the opportunity and a pipeline of potential projects.
Powering ahead: Delivering low carbon energy for London - 2009 prospectus
Cutting the capital's carbon footprint: Delivering decentralised energy (2008 summary report)
Our thanks to London First members on the working group: Argent, Arup, Buro Happold, Land Securities, PricewaterhouseCoopers (Climate Change Capital, Norton Rose); and to those interviewed as part of its work: Land Securities, Hammerson, Veolia, Lend Lease.
