We introduce our team - Ollie and Richard are communication experts and lead a movement of community energy companies as catalysts for low carbon change across Sussex. James runs an energy shop and provides energy advice in particular LED retrofits, Jason from Worthing is project manager at the Eye Project, Eco Young and Engaged in West Sussex and looking to open an Energy Shop as a social enterprise in Worthing, Nick CB from London is a graduate learning to run his own PV company and he has trained as a PV installer. Nick Rouse is the Engineering Director for Telcol which was founded in 1840, today Telcol develops energy monitoring equipment;
We discuss the political situation and state of the German energy market. Chernobyl and then Fukushima influenced the change and support for renewables and the end of nuclear. There has been an increase in energy storage, heat networks and efficiency. In the UK we are looking at decentralisation and Herr Gerlach strongly recommended that every town/local authority should have their own distribution centre and generate locally - Germany now have nearly 800 regionalised energy companies that buy and sell energy - in the UK we have around 20 national companies.
The supply of gas from the Ukraine is secure and Germany has strong economic connections with Russia. In Germany everyone is against Fracking and politically it is law that each state can decide locally how they develop their energy. The Mayor of the region is on the board of BCS and has an influence on the local energy success stories, local political support is really important. It was the EEG legislation, plus national and regional authorities that influence the return of investment for solar. The national EEG law made solar profitable, affordable and acceptable.
It was agreed across the table that energy saving and renewable take up has to accelerate and with that Herr Gerlach draws our discussion to an end reminding us “There have been wars for oil and gas there will not be wars for the sun”.
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Learning the German way
SOLAR VISIT to one the the BCS engineering building (house 1) that uses 100,000kw a year. They have a plastics and metal engineering department and both use high amounts of electricity. They have 39kw solar capacity on house 2 and generate 36000 kW/year, they also have a mini CHP plant. In total they generate 55,000kwh a year. The solar installation cost was 18,000 Euros and their payback is 8 years.
MINI CHP runs one of the BCS buildings - it's a badger CHP and installed by a local company. It generates 5.5kw electricity and 12.5kw of heat producing 40,000 kW/hrs a year and produces a third of the education facility energy. It cost 40,000 Euros and the payback is 10 years. The annual saving from the CHP on their energy bills is 4,500 Euros.
LED LIGHTING VISIT to the disaster recovery centre for the 8km Rensteig tunnel (Germany's longest tunnel) and the Alterbourg Tunnel where they predict 40 accidents a year (1 accident per km). It is a 24 hour a day service, 46,000 cars a day. The tunnels have a ventilator and fans which require high power requirements - prepared to use 1.2gwatt power during an accident/fire which costs 15000 Euros for 20 minutes. The ventilators are also required to clear mist and fog. The centre is also prepared for biological disaster. The tunnels now have a sophisticated led lighting system. They can adjust these to control speed in and out of the tunnel when accidents occur or lane closures they also can adjust light levels allowing for drivers eyes to adjust for safety as they proceed in and out of the tunnels. This site was a centre of excellence and our host Sylvio is the German specialist for water contamination and is on standby to attend disasters across the world. We visit the main control area for the tunnels and discuss the led lighting system and controls for lighting the tunnels. Back at HQ the highlight has to being allowed to follow Sylvio down the fire mans pole - and a thought of our British Health & Safety rules that wouldn't allow such freedom!