| 21/08/2008 |
First International Conference and Workshop on Micro-Cogeneration and Applications
Natural Resources Canada, along with sponsorship from Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc., SuperGen Group-UK, and the IEA/SCBC hosted the First International Conference and Workshop on Micro-Cogeneration Technologies and Applications April 29 - May 1, 2008 at the NAC in Ottawa. The conference and workshop were attended by 98 delegates from 14 countries in Europe, Asia and North America. The conference was the first in what will be a continuing forum for presenting the latest research, development, and experimental results in the dynamic field of small cogeneration technologies. In parallel sessions, speakers from around the world presented technical, economic and policy analyses, deployment strategies, comparative assessments, and studies of sustainability, societal and environmental impacts. The final day workshop brought utilities, researchers and manufacturers together with policymakers and government regulators for a frank and open discussion on the current state of micro-cogeneration technologies, their potential impacts on overall electricity supply and peak demand, and their prospects for mass deployment. The event will now be a regular, biennial event. The next two will be held in Europe and Japan, then returning to Canada for the 4-th edition. For more information contact eentchev@nrcan.gc.ca |
| 12/08/2008 |
12 August 2008 - Mitsubishi release free guide to CHP
Mitsubishi has released one of its educational CPD-accredited industry guides covering the fundamentals of CHP technology and legislation. The 10-page booklet can be downloaded here. |
| 09/07/2008 |
Domestic CHP systems on trial in the Netherlands
NUON has begun installation of 20 CHP systems in an Amsterdam apartment owned by the Ymere housing association. The installation, part of an extensive test designed to optimise the performance of these new-generation boilers, are also expected to increase energy awareness as well as reducing costs. NUON says that although the CHP system uses on average around 180 EUR a year more gas than other boilers, it generates around 500 EUR of electricity a year. The field test is the final step in the development of the system, which will be launched in late 2009. It is forecast that, by 2010, around ten thousand Dutch households will use the new-generation CHP boiler. Ymere operates in the north of the Randstad conurbation, where it manages over 82,500 residential, retail and business properties and has large-scale development activities in the owner-occupier and rental segments of the residential market, as well as in properties with a social function. The current test will last for at least one year, NUON says. The move follows last year's announcement of a tie-up between NUON, Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (CFCL) and Remeha to develop a fully integrated micro CHP unit for the residential market. Please find the press release here. |
| 07/07/2008 |
Good times for cogeneration in Germany
The enactment of the laws for the support of cogeneration (KWKG) and the amendment to the Renewable Energies Law (EEG) have set the course for the further development of cogeneration, better than the industry had hoped for. The new regulations are supposed to double Germany’s cogeneration energy production (German) to 25 % by 2020, whereas the potential is clearly over 50 %. The amended KWKG supports the cogeneration while keeping the support system (allowances), but in the future without the previous restrictions, such as production-value-limitation in new construction and heat power requirement for renovation. It is especially important for operators of industrial cogeneration facilities as well as private units that in the future the advance is to be paid for self used electricity and directly sold electricity as well. Small units up to 50 kWel will be additionally supported as of 9 September 2008 through investment grants. For more information contact B.KWK on http://www.bkwk.de/ |
| 30/04/2008 |
ProEcoPolyNet project documents on small polygeneration technologies
COGEN Europe is part of the ProEcoPolyNet project (also known as PEP-Net). This is a network for promotion of three interlinked areas: eco-building technologies, small polygeneration and renewable heating and cooling technologies. The project has the following goals:
- promote pre-commercial EU RTD pilot project results
- help facilitate the market up-take of these technologies as they become available to the market
- provide information and resources to help replicate results of pre-commercial and commercial projects
- address market applications and implementation potential, to integrate the development of these technologies into policy assessments, for example the assessment of the potential for cogeneration, required by the CHP Directive (2004/08/EC), thus feeding further EU RTD.
One of the objectives is to facilitate market penetration of technical applications/solutions related to polygeneration technologies within the following focal areas: trigeneration, small-scale applications, micro CHP and innovative technologies, including biomass. Within this work the two brochures have been developed:
- - One describes the main results of the RTD screening (chapter 1), some application examples and experiences (chapter 2) and the implementation potential and perspectives of the selected polygeneration technologies in a number of EU Member States (chapter 3). Find it here.
- - A summary of the potential of the polygeneration technologies in Europe. Find it here.
More information on ProEcoPolyNet can be found on: www.proecopolynet.info |
| 30/04/2008 |
COGEN Europe Annual Conference "Creating a CHP roadmap for Europe"
COGEN Europe is pleased to announce its upcoming COGEN Europe Annual Conference "Creating a CHP roadmap for Europe" event, which will take place on May 22-23rd 2008, in Brussels, Belgium. Cogeneration, energy efficiency and CO2 abatement are all areas in which the EU has ambitions. The COGEN Europe 14th Annual Conference challenges policy makers and the industry to identify "What policy framework is needed and what market actors are involved in promoting cogeneration in Europe today?". As Member States begin to investigate and plan how to meet the Energy and Climate Package targets for 2020, it becomes increasingly clear that energy efficiency has a key role to play in delivering the final result. Key players from the stakeholder groups will gather to look for successful repeatable policy measures and business models which can harness the combined efforts of industry and Member States to deliver on the energy efficiency potential of cogeneration. The conference seeks to broaden the policy debate around cogeneration from the purely energy field into enterprise and environment. It will focus on the reality of the cogeneration market with large users, regulators, electricity companies and equipment manufacturers describing the state of the market today and their views on what is really needed to increase the penetration of cogeneration in Europe. Keynote speakers include:
- Nobuo Tanaka, Director of the IEA, who will talk on the impact of climate change on energy strategy around the globe (including results of IEA global study of cogeneration and district heating)
- Fiona Hall, Member of European Parliament and rapporteur on the Energy Efficiency Action Plan
- Alfonso Gonzalez-Finat, Principal Advisor DG TREN
For more information, please visit: http://www.cogen.org/events/Annual_Conference_2008.htm |
| 15/04/2008 |
ProEcoPolyNet Newsletter on Polygeneration
COGEN Europe is partner in the ProEcoPolyNet project. This project aims to give support to the bundling and sharing of European research know-how in three thematic interlinked areas:
- eco-buildings
- small polygeneration
- renewable energy heating and cooling technologies.
Targeting researchers and technology experts, manufacturers that could produce the new technologies, enterprises that can apply them, planners and architects, and associations of enterprises and other relevant actors, the proposed actions will increase the level of information and know-how among the relevant market actors regarding new RTD results of these three thematic areas, help spur market implementation and thus stimulate and facilitate transfer of knowledge regarding RTD results and applications throughout Europe. Special attention is also given to innovative technologies that have passed the primary stage of demonstration, that are on the edge to commercialisation with a promising market perspective.
The overall objective of Work Package 4 is to facilitate market penetration of technical applications/solutions related to “polygeneration technologies” within the following technological focal areas of trigeneration, small-scale applications, micro CHP and innovative technologies, including biomass. Within this Work Package a Newsletter on Polygeneration is produced, which you can find here. More information on ProEcoPolyNet can be found on: www.proecopolynet.info |
| 02/04/2008 |
Irish Energy Minister Announces Grants For Biomass And Anaerobic Digestion CHP
Irish Energy Minister Eamon Ryan has announced a new renewable energy grant scheme. Businesses, schools and hospitals can receive grants for the installation of biomass-fuelled and anaerobic digestion CHP units. The scheme is set to encourage industry and commercial users to generate their own heat. Out of the €11m allocated for the CHP grants, it is expected that the take up of the biomass element to be in the order of €8m. In heating terms alone, projects under this grant scheme will displace the equivalent of 36 million litres of heating oil and reduce carbon emissions by 100,000 tonnes every year. The Minister also announced a new feed-in-tariff or guaranteed price for the production of electricity from these units. Suppliers can apply to the Department to receive a guaranteed price of 120 per MWh. Speaking while visiting a CHP unit at the Guinness brewery at St. James' Gate, Minister Ryan said: "We can create energy from wood chippings, from animal waste and crops and we can do this in a very effective way. These biomass CHP units will save businesses up to a quarter of their energy costs. "Energy bills are a major part of overall expenditure in business. With this new grant and price support scheme, business will benefit from drastic reduction in their heating costs. I would encourage schools, hospitals and businesses to generate their own electricity on site using this technology." |
| 20/03/2008 |
Scottish and Southern ploughs £1m into CHP joint venture
Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) has become the latest energy giant to step up its interest in CHP, announcing yesterday that it has formed a joint venture with fuel cell specialist Intelligent Energy to address the market. The two companies said that the new 50:50 joint venture, called IE CHP Ltd, will focus on developing a fuel cell-based CHP system for the light industrial, commercial and residential markets in the UK and Ireland. |
| 20/03/2008 |
Report of the International CHP/DHC Collaborative
At their 2007 Summit in Heiligendamm, G8 leaders called on countries to “adopt instruments and measures to significantly increase the share of CHP in the generation of electricity.” As a result, energy, economic, environmental and utility regulators are looking for tools and information to understand the potential of CHP and to identify appropriate policies for their national circumstances. As first part of the response, the International CHP/DHC Collaborative, of which COGEN Europe is an associate and active member, published their report on the benefits of investing in CHP. It includes answers to policy makers’ questions about the potential economic, energy and environmental benefits of an increased policy commitment to CHP. It also includes for the first time integrated IEA data on global CHP installations, and analyses the benefits of increased CHP investment in the G8+5 countries. A companion report will be produced later in 2008 to document best practice policy approaches that have been used to expand the use of CHP in a variety of countries. Please find the report here. COGEN Europe continues to work closely with the collaborative to support and develop the message in Europe. |
| 06/03/2008 |
Proceedings of the European Seminar on Trigeneration
All presentations from this trigeneration seminar, organised by COGEN Europe and FAST COGEN on Friday 22 February in Milan, can be found here. |
| 03/03/2008 |
Ceramic Fuel Wins Dutch Order
Ceramic Fuel Cells will commence volume production of domestic CHP units in 2009 after winning an order for 50,000 units from NUON, the Dutch energy company. The company will meet the demand by building a 12.4m Euro plant in Germany to manufacture up to 160,000 units a year. |
| 12/02/2008 |
Proceedings of the COGEN Europe event at the EUSEW 2008
All presentations from the COGEN Europe seminar "How to achieve the Energy Saving Potentials of cogeneration in Europe?" (30 January 2008) are now on our website. Please click here to find the presentations. |
| 12/02/2008 |
The first International Conference and Workshop on Micro CHP Technologies and Applications “Micro-Cogen 2008”
Micro-Cogen 2008 is a forum for presenting the latest research, development and demonstration results in a broad range of small cogeneration technologies including technical and policy analyses, deployment strategies, comparative analysis, and studies on sustainability and societal and environmental impacts. The event will be held in Ottawa, Canada from 29 April – 1 May 2008. The workshop will bring together researchers, manufacturers, electric and gas utilities, policy makers, regulators, and builders to discuss the current state of micro CHP technologies, future development trends, barriers and opportunities for collaboration for speedy deployment. International experts will share their vision, extensive experience and knowledge gained through modelling, lab and field trials and will discuss the applications of a variety of micro CHP technologies in the residential/ commercial energy sector world wide.
More information can be found here. To contact the conference organisers, please send an email to microgen2008@nrcan.gc.ca |
| 05/02/2008 |
COGEN Europe micro CHP Workshop
In advance of the Commission’s imminent work on minimum efficiency requirements for micro CHP, COGEN Europe will hold a Workshop on micro CHP in Brussels on 12 February to be addressed by European Commission specialists. The European Commission’s Communication “Action Plan for Energy Efficiency: Realising the potential” (2006) contains several measures on improving energy transformation and eight of these are specifically directed at cogeneration. These measures include “seek to adopt a European norm and a minimum efficiency requirement for micro CHP” (2007-2009). The intervention of such a policy instrument at the current stage of market development in micro CHP will impact the industry.
The European Commission will present the current EU policy towards micro CHP and the upcoming initiatives. An update of the situation in four Member States (United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany) will be given. Please find here the agenda and registration form. |
| 31/01/2008 |
Mondragon and Meridian Energy to manufacture micro CHP systems
A joint venture was formed by Mondragon and Meridian Energy to mass manufacture the WhisperGen micro CHP system in Spain for distribution in Europe. The joint venture is currently establishing a manufacturing facility in Spain and plans to have the product available for sale on the continental European market in time for the 2008/09 winter heating season. The gas-fired WhisperGen micro CHP system is for home domestic use, acting as an energy efficient boiler heating system that also generates electricity to supplement the grid supply. It was developed in New Zealand by Meridian Energy subsidiary Whisper Tech. The companies said that the WhisperGen micro CHP system lowers energy costs, lessens dependence upon mass energy production and reduces carbon dioxide emissions overall. |
| 23/01/2008 |
COGEN Europe seminar as part of the EUSEW
The European Commission, the International Energy Agency and COGEN Europe are jointly hosting this ground breaking seminar. This is a high level event where for the first time the opportunities of cogeneration to contribute to Europe’s energy efficiency goals will be debated and explored. The seminar brings together Andris Piebalgs, Energy Commissioner, Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the IEA and Claude Turmes, Member of the European Parliament, along with the practical experience of professionals from the city of London, energy intensive industries and EU Member States. An open session for debate follows the formal presentations, and will summarise recommendations for EU energy policy.The seminar deals with the major challenge faced by Europe in making progress on energy efficiency. The EU has the potential of saving over 100 M tonnes of CO2 annually through deployment of cogeneration energy efficiency technology. Of all of Europe’s tools for improving energy efficiency and addressing climate change, cogeneration has the potential to be one of the lowest risk and most far-reaching in terms of near term impact. Cogeneration is already delivering significant energy security, cost savings and climate benefits by currently providing over 10% of Europe’s electricity. However, most experts believe it has much more to offer. This seminar will hear from those already taking efficiency action forward on how to mobilise this effective resource now.
More information and registration on: http://www.eusew.eu/page.cfm?page=events&selEvent=83 |
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