Overview of DHC Legislative Framework

Overview of DHC Legislative Framework

Country

Ireland

Legislative Framework

As previously stated in terms of national policy there are currently no laws or schemes supporting DHC specifically. However there are a number which indirectly support DHC, these are listed below. Neither is there any regulation applied to the market in terms of who can operate DH systems, conditions of supply, quality of service, unit cost of delivered heat, etc.

National Climate Change Strategy

A key driver for DH/CHP set out in the National Climate Change Strategy (2007-2012) is that Ireland has a policy target to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 0.162 Mt by 2010 through the installation of new CHP schemes, which can both support, and benefit from, connection to a DH system. The Government’s ambition for CHP is underpinned by a target to achieve an installed capacity of 400 MW_elec by 2010 and 800 MW_elec by 2020.

The strategy also states: “In the current process of revising the Waste Framework Directive (2006/12/EC), the European Commission is considering mechanisms, which would encourage waste to energy plants to increase efficiency to a level comparable to conventional power plants, thereby allowing the energy within the waste to be transformed into electricity and heat for beneficial use in accordance with Best Available Techniques. The government supports this approach, in the context of the waste hierarchy, which will minimise climate impacts through the sustainable management of waste”.

The National Climate Change Strategy (2000) also states:

“Increasing the density of residential accommodation, particularly in urban areas, and integration with commercial and other developments, also provides an opportunity to reflect energy planning considerations more explicitly in the provision of new housing. This can occur e.g. through the use of CHP plants for commercial/residential developments (where sufficient heat sinks are available to make this an environmentally suitable option) and the use of DH (e.g. waste heat from power stations will be available in the Dublin Docklands redevelopment area).”

The Energy Policy Framework 2007 – 2020

The Actions listed in this government White Paper include:

· We will extend the Renewable Energy Feed In Tariff (REFIT) electricity support scheme to encompass co-firing and maintain the REFIT scheme in support of biomass electricity;

· We will deliver on the targets in the Bio Energy Action Plan, through continued strategic alliances across Government Departments and Agencies;

· We will, under the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan, introduce measures to further enhance the energy efficiency of the power generation sector which will contribute to demand management and security of supply.

· We will ensure that energy policy and climate change policy goals are closely aligned and that strategies for reducing energy demand and energy related emissions contribute to national climate change targets;

· We will achieve a minimum target of 5% market penetration of renewables in the heat market by 2010, facilitated through the expanded Greener Homes and Bioheat grants programmes and the development of further initiatives to encourage renewable energy in the domestic, community, commercial and industrial environments;

· We are setting a further target of 12% renewable heat market penetration by 2020. This target reflects the available resource and is ambitious when coupled with the additional target for co-firing with biomass;

· We are committed to updating national building regulations governing energy efficiency of new buildings and buildings subject to major renovations.

· We have introduced Building Energy Rating (BER) of new dwellings from January 1 2007. We will extend the requirement for rating to new non-domestic buildings from 1 July 2008, and to existing buildings (domestic and non-domestic) offered for rent or sale from 1 January 2009. This will provide the information necessary for energy efficiency to become a factor in purchase and sale decisions in the housing market and to drive the provision of higher standards in the housing stock;

Bio Energy Action Plan for Ireland

The Bio Energy Action Plan sets out an integrated strategy for harnessing the energy potential of all bio energy sources, including waste biomass, to make a contribution to renewable energy. The Actions listed in this plan include:

· To assist in the development of waste to energy projects, the Government is extending REFIT to allow support for the renewable portion of mixed renewable and non renewable generation. This will allow Waste-to-Energy projects to obtain support for the renewable portion of the generated electricity. This type of hybrid support mechanism is fully consistent with the overall ‘hierarchy of waste’ treatment approach.

· Review within 12 months the Part L Building Regulations to incentivise the use of renewable technologies for heating in buildings and significantly raise the energy efficiency requirements in new buildings by at least 40%;

· The Combined Heat and Power (CHP) programme provides grants for the installation of CHP units. The scheme is aimed at small-scale units (up to 1 MW), which can be deployed in hotels, leisure centres, small hospitals, offices or commercial buildings, which have a substantial heat requirement. Such units can be fuelled by fossil fuels such as gas, as well as biomass (wood and waste) products. The programme is running over a five-year period.

· The CHP programme aims to deliver 10 – 15 MW_e Biomass CHP, and 100 – 200 small-scale fossil fuel CHP installations, generating 10 – 20MW_e of high efficiency CHP. Potential applications of biomass CHP include board mills and the food industry. There is no limit on the size of installations that can be grant-aided if fuelled by biomass.

Note: Ireland utilises the EU Directive 2001/77/EC definition of renewable energy, which defines renewable energy as ‘non-fossil energy sources (wind, solar, geothermal, wave, tidal, hydro and bio-energy)’. Bio energy includes biomass, landfill gas, biogases and biofuels. Biomass is defined as the biodegradable fraction of products, waste and residues from agriculture (including vegetal and animal substances), forestry and related industries, as well as the biodegradable fraction of industrial and municipal waste.

The National Energy Efficiency Action Plan 2009 - 2020

The Government has committed to achieving by 2020 a 20% reduction in energy demand across the whole of the economy through energy efficiency measures. The purpose of this Action Plan is to identify policies and measures that have the potential to contribute towards our national 20% target. Those relevant to DH are listed below:

· We are demonstrating and promoting, through Sustainable Energy Zones, the range of technologies, techniques, policies and behaviours that will help to deliver a sustainable energy future for Ireland. Direct actions in Dundalk SEZ include:

— installation of a 1.8MW wind turbine on an industrial site;

— building a biomass district heating system;

— using an Energy Services Company (ESCO) to build, operate and manage the output of the district heating and large wind-turbine systems and the demand of their users.

· The SERVE Project (Sustainable Energy for the Rural Village Environment) in North Tipperary aims to demonstrate sustainable energy use in rural communities. Actions will include energy upgrades for existing dwellings, installation of renewable energy heating systems, development of an eco-village in Cloughjordan and the development of a district heating system.

Building Regulations 2008, Part L: See Support Measures for DHC, Measure 1.

CHP Deployment Programme: See Support Measures for DHC, Measure 2.

Biomass CHP/Anaerobic Digestion (AD) CHP Call for Proposals: See Support Measures for DHC, Measure 3.

ReHeat Deployment Programme: See Support Measures for DHC, Measure 4.

Renewable Energy Feed In Tariff (REFIT): See Support Measures for DHC, Measure 4.

Building Energy Rating: See Support Measures for DHC, Measure 4.

Purpose of the Legislation

To set out the roadmap to deliver a sustainable energy future for Ireland. One of the main priorities for Ireland is security of energy supply. The finite nature of global oil and gas supplies has lead to a focus on the need to develop indigenous alternatives for future energy needs.