renewable energy assessment - Blaenau Gwent County Borough ...

RENEWABLE ENERGY ASSESSMENT5.0 BUILDING INTEGRATED RENEWABLES (BIR) UPTAKEASSESSMENT5.1 This section provides a summary assessment of the potential building integratedrenewable (BIR) energy technology uptake in Blaenau Gwent County Borough. Theassessment is based on the method detailed in ‘Planning for Renewable and LowCarbon Energy – A Toolkit for Planners’. The following indicates the issues, researchand questions associated with this element of the evidence base:Issues• What is the role of microgeneration in the energy mix of Wales?• How is ‘microgeneration’ defined in this REA?• What is the difference between ‘microgeneration’ and ‘building integratedrenewables’?• How much energy is generated from BIR currently installed in Blaenau GwentCounty Borough?• What is the potential energy generated by building integrated renewable energytechnologies in Blaenau Gwent in 2020?Introduction to BIR5.2 The Welsh Assembly Government has set out its Renewable Energy Route Mapwhich envisages a significant role for microgeneration in the energy mix of Wales.There is likely to be an increasing emphasis on the uptake of microgenerationtechnologies. Microgeneration in Blaenau Gwent County Borough could play animportant part in any area wide renewable energy assessment. It is considered thatmicrogeneration technologies, for the most part, can be installed on a variety ofbuildings, but unlike the other renewable energy technology types highlighted in thisreport it is demand led, rather than supply led. Therefore predictions have been madeon the take up of microgeneration technologies in Blaenau Gwent County Borough.5.3 The official definition of microgeneration is given in the Energy Act 2004 as electricitygenerating capacity of 50Kw or less, and heat generating capacity of 45kW or less.However, for the purposes of this REA, and the uptake modelling, we are using thebroader term Building Integrated Renewables. BIR can include systems that arelarger than microgeneration, such as biomass boilers for schools, which can be up to500kW of heat output or more. However, BIR technologies are still linking to existingor new buildings and are therefore distinct, in terms of how their potential can bemodelled, from the larger scale stand alone technologies that are covered elsewherein this REA.5.4 The term BIR also excludes those microgeneration technologies that are notrenewable, such as fuel cells (where the hydrogen is produced from main gas) andsmall scale CHP, using mains gas as the fuel source. This is because, for thepotential purpose of assessing renewable energy potential, we are only interested inthe potential uptake of those microgeneration technologies that are renewable.5.5 BIR are taken to cover the following technologies:• Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels26