CTO Assessment - European Commission

POWYS
Renewable Energy
Development Plan
Contact: Mr. Andy Bull • Powys County Council
St. John´s Offices • Fiveways • Llandrindod Wells • LD1 5ES • Wales • UK
Tel/Fax: 0044 1597 827 587 • E-mail: andyb@powys.gov.uk
Powys decided to become 100% RES supplied
between the period of 2000-2010.
To achieve this target they implemented
various projects and established an Energy
Agency in 2000.
Main aims and motivations
The combined aim of all the projects is to
completely cover the county´s energy demand
with a supply of renewable energy.
Powys wishes to establish Mid-Wales as a
model utiliser of Renewable Energies for
the UK and therefore to get the community
better known on a national and European
level. Increasing public awareness of
RES issues is also a concern of the campaign.
Project Details
With the calculation of approx. 49,000
homes in the County in 2000 the following
targets were established:
Establish an Energy Agency, 5,000 solar
thermal water collectors, 100kWp PV, 20
hydro schemes, wood fuel heating projects,
anaerobic digestion, Energy database for
resource within the county.
Overall Evaluation
Other than wind power the projects are
starting from a very low base. It can be
seen, however, that a continuation of the
work will start to make significant headway
on the issues. There has already been
a larger acceptance of wood fuels but the
overall awareness has not increased significantly
as yet.
10 long-term jobs have been created so
far, 5 of which are directly dealing with
RES matters. There are 2 indirect posts
but this will increase dramatically as income
is retained locally and wood fuel
projects grow.
Involving the community
Shares from the community wind turbine
were sold to the community. This served
not only to generate income but also to
raise local confidence in the turbines
through participation. Due to PV, the electricity
bills were reduced and a certain
amount of free electricity supplied to the
community.
Enabling factors
The campaign has support from many
sources. There is financial aid from DG-
TREN SAVE and ALTENER projects,
technical support from The Carbon Trust,
political support from the National Assembly
Sustainable Energy Group, legal support
from the County Council, administrative
aid from the Welsh Development
Agency. The campaign is also supported
by the Forestry Commission, Utility Companies,
Wales OPET Cymru, other energy
agencies and many more.
Challenges
There was a general lack of public awareness
of Renewable Energy issues and also
opposition to large wind farms as the negative
aspects are more widely known than
the positive. It was vital to engender confidence
in the
Energy Agency in order for the project to
be a success but also to use best practise
Key facts of the project:
1 community owned wind turbine with a capacity of 75kW
case studies both from the UK and elsewhere
in Europe.
Replication Potential
The same potential exists in many other
places. Powys County Council knows of no
other similar initiatives to be set up so far
but people have expressed interest.
It has been learnt that using project partners
to influence local decision makers is
very effective and that projects like Powys
are very important as national policy can
probably be influenced by local example.
Perception of the RES situation at the
end of CTO
People are more concerned about RES issues
today than in 1999 and this is reflected
in greater support from the population.
Obstacles to the establishment and
implementation of RES projects have also
decreased in this time.
RES Increase
The results of the Powys project so far
constitute a 2% rise in RES share on a
local level. There is already a CO 2
reduction
of 45,000 tonnes; an NO x
reduction
of 156 tonnes and a SO x
reduction of 520
tonnes.
19.8 MW supplied by large commercial wind turbines with a further 10.2 MW in
the planning stages.
It is difficult to determine the overall capacity of the utility owned wind turbines,
as there is some repowering being undertaken.
From a goal of 100 kWp to be supplied by PV systems, in 2003 59 kWp were
generated from 8 systems, which though not the optimum amount, still
represents a significant increase.
80 m 2 of solar thermal collectors for domestic hot water
124 m 2 of solar thermal collectors providing district heating
1 Biogas installation
2 sustainable energy settlements established
Establishment of an Energy Agency
78 CTO - Showcase