Norfolk County Council: Carbon Management and Renewable Energy

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Norfolk County Council Carbon Management and
Renewable Energy

• Dominic Allen
• Sustainability Manager, ETD
• NALC, 7-3-13

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Overview

• Development of the Carbon Management Programme
• European Project - Biomaster
• ESCo

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Drivers

• Carbon Reduction energy efficiency and carbon
  management programme
• Legal obligations eg Climate Change Act 2008
• Budgetary constraints rising energy costs
• Energy Security
• From 1980 2003, UK was a net energy exporter
• In 2008, the UK imported 26 of its natural gas,
  by 2015, this is likely to be 80

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Norfolk County Councils Carbon Energy
Reduction Programme

• Target 25 reduction in CO2 emissions and cost
  savings by 2014,through
• Capital investment
• to improve energy efficiency of Schools, the NCC
  estate and fleet, and develop new energy sources
• Behaviour change by staff and schools
• (incl. Energy Busters/ Futures/programme in
  schools plus corp. Low Carb diet )
• Smarter procurement and management of energy use
• Legal compliance - satisfying statutory
  obligations within the national Carbon Reduction
  Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC)

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Performance to date (2011/12)

• We have achieved 17 reduction on the original
  baseline, equivalent to 16,096 tonnes
• Going forward, we have now to reduce our carbon
  footprint by a further 8 - the equivalent of
  7,562 tonnes to reach the target
• During 2011/12 we saw a reduction in energy spend
  of 550,000. This against a backdrop of energy
  price rises of 9 for gas and 6.5 for
  electricity
• Total energy cost for 2011/12 - 12,225,532
• In total since the start of the programme 3.3m
  has been saved in energy cost.

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NCC carbon emissions
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NCC total building and streetlighting energy cost
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What is the CRC? (Carbon Reduction Commitment
Energy Efficiency Scheme)

• New mandatory emissions trading scheme, targeting
  _at_ 5,000 large organisations
• Started in April 2010 with three-year
  introductory phase
• Covers all energy sources (electricity, gas, LPG
  and oil) other than transport fuels
• Initially intended to be revenue neutral to the
  Exchequer, subequent to changes in the CSR 2010,
  it is now essentially a carbon tax scheme.
• It was intended that revenue raised was recycled
  to participants in the scheme with rewards and
  penalties based on performance. This no longer
  the case. There is though a performance league
  table.

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Carbon and Energy Reduction Fund - CERF

• A fund of 9.8m to improve the energy efficiency
  of buildings on NCC estate from 2010-2013.
  (Additional funds earmarked for beyond 2013)
• A total of 543 projects have been identified to
  date, with an allocation of 10.7m and
• projected cost and carbon savings of 1,618,399
  and 6745 tonnes per annum respectively
• More recently, investment in smart metering
  technology
• Some limited expansion into renewables on the
  county estate

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Case Studies
Fire Service

• Green Fleet Review leading to
• Video and web conferencing
• Eco-driving course for staff
• Car sharing and pool cars
• Purchase of lower emission vehicles, including
  hybrids
• Retained Fire Officers located nearer to Fire
  Stations
• Reduced fuel and mileage costs
• Retrofit emissions reduction technology on older
  Fire Trucks
• Installation of solar PV panels on roofs to
  generate income from the Feed in Tariff.

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Case Studies
Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service

• Managed to reduce their electricity bill by over
  40 (32K) through utilising new technology.
  The service has switched from traditional
  tungsten light fittings to LED in four of its
  major museums Time and Tide, Gressenhall,
  Norwich Castle and Bridewell The benefits
  included- A more even light distribution
  enabling the use of fewer fittings LEDs are
  estimated to run for 50,000 hours compared with
  2,000 hours for conventional lamps which means
  less maintenance is required

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Solar PV projects installed under the CERF
programme Nov 2011- Feb 2013

• Total projects 23. A mix of libraries fire
  stations and schools
• Project cost 514,000
• Annual financial benefit - 86,000 (made up of
  Feed in Tariff, export tariff and energy savings)

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Communications campaign
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Improving delivery
Success in meeting the reduction target will
continue to depend on a number for factors

• Fast-tracking the disposal of surplus property
• Optimising energy efficiency is crucial to
  decisions concerned with all aspects of NCC
  property maintenance, acquisition or new build
• Need to involve fully premises managers in
  real-time monitoring of building performance
• Continue to drive forward behaviour change
• Investigate opportunities to reduce the impact of
  business travel
• Reduce the impact of owned fleet vehicles.
  Transport in its fullest sense is still a
  significant impact
• Investigate energy impacts linked to water usage.
  Opportunities to save _at_ 300 t/CO2/yr.
• Look to develop a stretch target to 2020.

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BIOMASTER

• Biomethane as an Alternative Source for Transport
  and Energy Renaissance
• European Project May 2011 May 2014
• Promoting biomethane production and uptake

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What is Biomethane?

• Kitchen Waste
• Commercial food waste
• Landfill
• Sewage
• Farm Wastes
• Industrial Waste

Injection into the gas grid
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BIOMASTER - Promote production and uptake of
biomethane initially within Norfolk

• Project is split into 3 sections
• Biogas production and upgrading
• Biomethane grid injection and other distribution
  options
• Biomethane use as a transport fuel

NCC is leading on Work Package 3.
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Work packages

• WP3 Biomethane Production and upgrading
• WP4 Biomethane grid injection
• WP5 Biomethane as a transport fuel

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Biomethane in transport gas bus
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Main focus

• Viability of any AD plant
• Transport/cost issues
• Local impacts
• Proximity to feed stocks

• Feedstock Information Collection and security of
  supply

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Energy Services Company (ESCo) NEF Ltd

• Approval through Cabinet Sept 11
• Capital available - 8.3m
• Company registered Dec 11 (Norfolk Energy
  Futures Ltd)
• Transition Board in place
• Business Investment Plans in development
• Working through the results of feasibility report
  for renewables investment on NCC estate
• Seeking wider partnership working - with public
  and private sector, and communities

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ESCo - NEF Ltd

• A private company wholly owned by Norfolk County
  Council
• Aims to provide an income stream to the council
  as well as supporting the growth in renewable
  energy uptake within the county, and support the
  local economy

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Structure
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Current renewables work CERF/ESCo

• 23 projects,including Libraries fire stations and
  schools
• Wind turbines 19 installed on the County Farms
  estate. These are 15m, 5kW systems. 470K
  investment.
• Biomass 4 biomass boiler installed. Fuel
  sourced locally to reduce transport impacts
• Biomass qualifies for the RHI. Therefore expected
  income from these sites in 77,200/yr

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More immediately

• Working on a public/private partnership with
  local green tech company
• Exploring community renewable energy projects
• Working on a energy package for schools
• In discussions to develop partnerships for AD
  projects

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Future Projects?

• Anaerobic Digestion
• Biomass boilers, (better ROI)
• Wind small scale
• Limited opportunities for small scale PV
• Partnership working to develop community scale
  projects
• Energy crops
• Large scale PV.

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Summing up

• Early days
• Fits with themes of localism, supporting local
  economy and green agenda
• Desire to remain flexible right opportunity /
  technology at the right time

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Contact details

• Dominic Allen
• Sustainability Manager
• Norfolk County Council
• dominic.allen_at_norfolk.gov.uk
• 01603 224463