Norfolk County Council: Carbon
Management and Renewable
Energy
Dominic Allen
Sustainability Manager, ETD
NALC, 7-3-13
Overview
• Development of the Carbon
Management Programme
• European Project - Biomaster
• ESCo
Drivers
• Carbon Reduction – energy efficiency and carbon
management programme
• Legal obligations – eg Climate Change Act 2008
• Budgetary constraints – rising energy costs
• Energy Security –
 From 1980 – 2003, UK was a net energy exporter
 In 2008, the UK imported 26% of its natural gas, by 2015,
this is likely to be 80%
Norfolk County Council’s
Carbon & Energy Reduction Programme
Target 25% reduction in CO2 emissions and cost savings by
2014,through:
Capital investment
• to improve energy efficiency of Schools, the NCC estate and
fleet, and develop new energy sources
Behaviour change by staff and schools
• (incl. Energy Busters/ Futures/programme in schools plus corp.
’Low Carb diet’ )
Smarter procurement and management of energy use
Legal compliance - satisfying statutory obligations within the
national Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency
Scheme (CRC)
Performance to date (2011/12)
• We have achieved 17% reduction on the original baseline,
equivalent to 16,096 tonnes
• Going forward, we have now to reduce our carbon footprint by a
further 8% - the equivalent of 7,562 tonnes to reach the target
• During 2011/12 we saw a reduction in energy spend of
£550,000. This against a backdrop of energy price rises of 9%
for gas and 6.5% for electricity
• Total energy cost for 2011/12 - £12,225,532
• In total since the start of the programme £3.3m has been saved
in energy cost.
NCC – carbon emissions
NCC total
building and
streetlighting
energy cost
What is the CRC? (Carbon Reduction
Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme)
• New mandatory emissions trading scheme, targeting @ 5,000 large
organisations
• Started in April 2010 with three-year introductory phase
• Covers all energy sources (electricity, gas, LPG and oil) other than
transport fuels
• Initially intended to be revenue neutral to the Exchequer, subequent
to changes in the CSR 2010, it is now essentially a carbon tax
scheme.
• It was intended that revenue raised was recycled to participants in
the scheme with rewards and penalties based on performance. This
no longer the case. There is though a performance league table.
Carbon and Energy Reduction Fund - CERF
• A fund of £9.8m to improve the energy efficiency of
buildings on NCC estate from 2010-2013. (Additional
funds earmarked for beyond 2013)
• A total of 543 projects have been identified to date,
with an allocation of £10.7m and…
• …projected cost and carbon savings of £1,618,399
and 6745 tonnes per annum respectively
• More recently, investment in smart metering technology
• Some limited expansion into renewables on the county
estate
Case Studies
Fire Service
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Green Fleet Review leading to…
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Video and web conferencing
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Eco-driving course for staff
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Car sharing and pool cars
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Purchase of lower emission vehicles, including hybrids
Retained Fire Officers located nearer to Fire Stations
Reduced fuel and mileage costs
Retrofit emissions reduction technology on older Fire Trucks
Installation of solar PV panels on roofs to generate income from the
Feed in Tariff.
Case Studies
Norfolk Museums and Archaeology
Service
• Managed to reduce their electricity bill by over 40% (£32K) through
utilising new technology.
The service has switched from traditional tungsten light fittings to
LED* in four of its major museums – Time and Tide, Gressenhall,
Norwich Castle and Bridewell
The benefits included:
- A more even light distribution enabling the use of fewer fittings
* LEDs are estimated to run for 50,000 hours compared with 2,000
hours for conventional lamps which means less maintenance is
required
Solar PV projects installed under the CERF programme – Nov
2011- Feb 2013
• Total projects – 23. A mix of libraries fire stations
and schools
• Project cost £514,000
• Annual financial benefit - £86,000 (made up of
Feed in Tariff, export tariff and energy savings)
Communications campaign
Improving delivery
Success in meeting the reduction target will continue to depend on a
number for factors:
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Fast-tracking the disposal of surplus property
Optimising energy efficiency is crucial to decisions concerned with all
aspects of NCC property maintenance, acquisition or new build
Need to involve fully premises managers in real-time monitoring of
building performance
Continue to drive forward behaviour change
Investigate opportunities to reduce the impact of business travel
Reduce the impact of owned fleet vehicles. Transport in its fullest sense
is still a significant impact
Investigate energy impacts linked to water usage. Opportunities to save
@ 300 t/CO2/yr.
Look to develop a stretch target to 2020.
BIOMASTER
• Biomethane as an Alternative Source for
Transport and Energy Renaissance
• European Project May 2011 – May 2014
• Promoting biomethane production and
uptake
What is Biomethane?
• Kitchen Waste
• Commercial food
waste
• Landfill
• Sewage
• Farm Wastes
• Industrial Waste
Injection into the
gas grid
BIOMASTER - Promote production and uptake of
biomethane initially within Norfolk
Project is split into 3 sections
1. Biogas production and upgrading
2. Biomethane grid injection and other distribution
options
3. Biomethane use as a transport fuel
NCC is leading on Work Package 3.
Work packages
• WP3 – Biomethane Production and upgrading
• WP4 – Biomethane grid injection
• WP5 – Biomethane as a transport fuel
Biomethane in transport – gas bus
Waste Pretreatment Building
Gas Cleanup
National Grid Compound
Main focus
• Viability of any AD plant
– Transport/cost issues
– Local impacts
– Proximity to feed stocks
• Feedstock Information Collection and security of
supply
Energy Services Company (ESCo) – NEF Ltd
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Approval through Cabinet – Sept ’11
Capital available - £8.3m
Company registered – Dec ’11 (Norfolk Energy Futures Ltd)
Transition Board in place
Business & Investment Plans in development
Working through the results of feasibility report for renewables
investment on NCC estate
• Seeking wider partnership working - with public and private
sector, and communities
ESCo - NEF Ltd
• A private company wholly owned by Norfolk County
Council
• Aims to provide an income stream to the council as
well as supporting the growth in renewable energy
uptake within the county, and support the local
economy
Structure
NCC
ESCo
Project Co. A
Project Co. B
Project Co. C
Project Co. D
Maintenance Contract
NCC / Community JV
Community / Private
Sector JV
NCC / Private Sector JV
Contractor EPC
Contractor O&M
Current renewables work – CERF/ESCo
• 23 projects,including Libraries fire stations and schools
• Wind turbines – 19 installed on the County Farms estate.
These are 15m, 5kW systems. £470K investment.
• Biomass – 4 biomass boiler installed. Fuel sourced
locally to reduce transport impacts
• Biomass qualifies for the RHI. Therefore expected
income from these sites in £77,200/yr
More immediately …
• Working on a public/private partnership with local
green tech company
• Exploring community renewable energy projects
• Working on a energy package for schools
• In discussions to develop partnerships for AD
projects
Future Projects?
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Anaerobic Digestion
Biomass boilers, (better ROI)
Wind – small scale
Limited opportunities for small scale PV
Partnership working to develop community scale
projects
• Energy crops
• Large scale PV.
Summing up
• Early days
• Fits with themes of localism, supporting local
economy and green agenda
• Desire to remain flexible – right opportunity /
technology at the right time
Contact details
Dominic Allen
Sustainability Manager
Norfolk County Council
dominic.allen@norfolk.gov.uk
01603 224463