CHP installations show continuing progress
CHP now meets 7.5% of the UK’s electricity requirements, according to recent Government figures, saving 14 Mt of CO2 a year. Over 300 new CHP schemes had been installed in the previous 12 months, mainly with outputs from 30 to 600 kW as used in offices, leisure centres and hotels. The small-scale CHP sector has been growing by an average of 20% year-on-year in recent years and now represents over 400 MW of capacity.
Craig Dennett of the Combined Heat & Power Association comments, ‘The growth in CHP over recent years is a tremendous success story for both the energy sector and the wider economy. This is a UK-based industry that reduces energy bills and carbon emissions from homes, public building, businesses and industry.
‘We have only developed a fraction of the potential for CHP, so there is a huge opportunity for the Government to capitalise on this when it produces policies in support of its heat strategy later in the year.’