WP2 Bridgend Area Energy Strategy: Bridgend Local Area Energy Strategy – The Evidence Base

Abstract:

Bridgend County Borough Council has been working with a group of stakeholders consisting of Welsh Government, Western Power Distribution, Wales and West Utilities and the Energy Systems Catapult, to pilot an advanced whole system approach to local area energy planning. Bridgend is one of three areas including Newcastle and Bury in Greater Manchester participating in the pilot project as part of the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) Smart Systems and Heat (SSH) Programme.<br /><br />This Evidence Base provides the underlying technical detail to support the development of a local area energy strategy for Bridgend County Borough Council.<br /><br />Key Findings:<ul><li>Across all model runs, the average total costs were &pound;7.23 billion. However, the Business as Usual scenario costs were &pound;6.59 billion, suggesting that decarbonisation costs &pound;0.66 billion. Business as usualwill see homes remain on gas boilers and continued significant investment in high carbon infrastructure.</li><li>A 95% local carbon reduction target is achievable, providing some form of low carbon energy centres can be deployed, such as large-scale heat pumps.</li><li>Meeting a 95% carbon target will require at least 82% of domestic properties to transition away from their current heating system. Across all model runs, on average, 97% of buildings changed heating systems.</li><li>Building fabric retrofit could be a quick win in areas of Bridgend where fuel poverty is high.</li><li>There is no one solution. Transition will require a mix of different technologies for different types <br />of geography, buildings and people.</li><li>Building level changes result in significant network changes, in terms of both electricity network <br />upgrade and new build district heat.</li></ul>All model runs culminated in two future local energy scenarios. Both scenarios:<ul><li>Consider local constraints on the siting of certain technologies and options resulting from EnergyPath Networks view of the least cost decarbonisation scenario.</li><li>Were informed by a practical engineering review of barriers to low carbon technology deployment within specific local areas which examined the outputs of the analysis and project stakeholder group feedback.</li></ul>The first scenario assumed that national gas does not decarbonise over time, whereas the second scenario considers the role of blending low carbon gas with natural gas in contributing to the cost-effective reduction of emissions.<!-- CO2 -->

Publication Year:

2018

Publisher:

ETI

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5286/ukerc.edc.000561

Author(s):

Energy Systems Catapult