criteria, as set out in decision letter.
financial benefits.
The Carbon Plan will deliver carbon emission cuts of 34% on 1990 levels by 2020.
This national target is complemented by local government carbon emission reduction
targets as set out in their strategy planning documents. The Carbon Plan sets out ways
to generate 30% of our electricity from renewable sources by 2020 in order to meet our
legally binding EU target to source 15% of the UK's energy from renewable sources by
2020.
UK Government has identified DG as a major low carbon energy enabler and an
important part of the future electricity generation mix. By facilitating the integration of
CHP within the built environment, this project will accelerate the development of a low
carbon energy sector and supply low carbon heat and power to both public and private
sector customers.
Birmingham City Council has a policy to integrate CHP into every new development
(domestic developments over 50 homes and Industrial and Commercial (I&C)
developments over 1000m
2
) in order to support their target to provide a 60% carbon
reduction by 2026. This project will position WPD to respond to Birmingham's low
carbon initiative while informing other DNOs of the opportunity to accommodate DG
within Fault Level constrained networks. Additional benefits may be created through
network efficiency improvements, installing generation closer to large demand centres
and thereby reducing electrical losses associated with transmitting and distributing
power.
This project also supports the Carbon Plan in paving the way towards a 'smarter'
electricity grid in the UK, and will accelerate the development of a low carbon energy
sector by creating more choice for customers, allowing local generation to connect more
quickly and cost-effectively to the network.
Potential to deliver net financial benefits
Through distribution system modelling and state estimation, the headroom in available
Fault Level will be quantified. This has the potential to deliver net financial benefits by
allowing load or generation customers to connect more quickly and cost-effectively to
the distribution network. This could be of particular benefit in cases where network
reinforcement can be deferred or avoided.
Increased flexibility in network operation, brought about by the introduction of new
technologies to reduce Fault Level, will expedite the connection time of low carbon
generation to the distribution network. This could increase the security of supply to the
customers, reducing customer interruptions and customer minutes lost, where the
Solution has facilitated greater electrical interconnection.