News

Title:
Energy Planning Takes Centre Stage

Date:
23 - 11 - 2006

Following the publication of the Government's Energy Policy Review in July 2006, energy development planning will never be quite the same. The post-War system of centralised plant supplying a national grid will gradually be replaced by much more diffused and localised network. The distinction between fossil and nonfossil fuels alone could also become less important as new technologies increase the fuel options. The Review makes it clear that the planning system will be expected to take a leading role in this process.

Although widely criticised as being little more than an exercise in justifying resumption of nuclear generation, the 2006 Energy Review did nevertheless move the national strategy on significantly. More guidance and legislation is to follow, but the emphasis on facilitating new generation methods and distribution systems is now well established. Renewable energy (wind, solar and biomass in particular) will continue to develop, but achievement of the Government's target of 20% of UK electricity generation by 2020 from those sources will not be easy. Future policies designed to achieve this have introduced a rather different challenge for the planning system.

Distributed Energy
The Energy Review introduced something called "Distributed Energy": a form of energy supply based on:
"...the wide range of technologies that do not rely on the high voltage electricity transmission network..."
(Box 3.1, Chapter 3 The Energy Challenge, DTi)

These technologies require small scale localised generation, Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants and non-gas fired generation using biomass, geothermal energy, heat pumps, etc. The common theme is the emergence of a whole new type of localised power generation, which is regarded as potentially more sustainable and which may be required in future developments – particularly the larger schemes in the South East and the cities.

The move towards distributed energy has been given impetus by the opening up of the electricity market last year, when a level playing field for the trading and transmission of electricity was established by the Energy Act, favouring new entrants to the energy market – and renewable developers in particular.

Microgeneration
The term Microgeneration is also going to become more familiar as the new energy market develops in the UK. This is defined as:
"small installations... that supply one building or small community,... potentially selling any surplus"
(Ibid)

The Department of Trade and Industry launched a strategy to promote microgeneration earlier this year and specifically included wind generation, hydro, biomass and even smallscale fuel cells. These new generation sources might be retro-fitted to existing sites, but are much more likely to arise in new developments first.

Future Energy Policy
Sustainable development policies, the Kyoto protocol and the Government's climate change commitments demand radical action. In the current political climate, such action will be passed on to the private sector through both sticks and carrots, and the development industry is once again seen as being a soft target to kick-start the process.

The National Energy Review expressly commits the Government to:
• Promote carbon neutral developments
• Impose on the GLA a new statutory duty to address climate change
• Require LPA's to adopt policies promoting on-site renewable energy provision
• Develop a policy framework requiring all LA's to take action on climate change
• Implement the Microgeneration Strategy "aggressively".

The Government is also considering the incentives and barriers to Distributed Electricity Generation, including CHP, with a view to facilitating this process.

In London, the Mayor's Energy Strategy already seeks the generation of 10% of a site’s energy needs from renewable sources, and developers must now include energy strategies in their planning applications from the outset. This process will certainly expand to other areas and gather momentum as a planning issue over the next few years.

The new policies promoting this diversified energy infrastructure will affect all major new developments and some less major. With the first planning policies now arriving at local level (particularly in London) many future developments will have to address issues not previously seen as planning matters.

michael_lee-wright@glhearn.com