London Borough of Ealing –Renewable & Low Carbon Energy Monitoring Consultant’s Brief
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London Borough of Ealing
Contractors’ Brief for the procurement of a renewable and low
carbon energy monitoring system (DRAFT)
1. Introduction
Ealing Council wishes to appoint a Contractor to:
Provide a renewable and low carbon energy monitoring system to assist the
Council with tracking and confirming compliance with renewable/ low carbon (and
CO2 emissions reduction) planning policies.
The brief sets out the background to this project, its aims and objectives,
proposed methodology, timescales, outputs and management arrangements.
2. Background
The need for an energy monitoring system
The combined effect of new legislation and guidance over the past few years has
resulted in local authorities now having a central role to play in delivering
sustainable development. Tackling climate change has become a key
Government priority for the planning system with an increasing focus on climate
change mitigation and adaptation in national planning policy. Local planning
authorities, specifically, have a direct responsibility for mitigating and adapting to
climate change.
There are several ambitious national and regional targets and regulations which
will start to impinge on public bodies, including:
1. The carbon targets set by the Climate Change Act (legally binding UK
greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets of at least 26% by 2020 and
at least 80% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels)1; and
2. Renewable targets – the EU has a binding target of 20% of total energy
consumption coming from renewables by 2020, and is generating
individual targets for members, with 15% proposed for the UK. UK
electricity generators are also required to source 15%2 of their supply from
renewable sources by 2015.
1
Information available at:
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/legislation/cc_act_08/cc_act_08.aspx
2 Source Carbon Trust
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3. National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) – The National Planning
Policy Framework (NPPF) was adopted on Tuesday 27th March 2012
superseding Planning Policy Statements3 and Planning Policy Guidance
documents. The NPPF seeks to streamline national planning policy and to
promote sustainable economic development. In particular, the Framework
sets out planning's important role in tackling climate change, and moving
to a low carbon economy. Planning can help lower transport fumes and
green house gases released into the air, through:
a. Choosing good locations and layouts for new development.
b. Support for better energy efficiency in existing buildings, and
c. Backing the delivery of renewable and low carbon energy, including
community-led schemes.
The 2008 Planning and Energy Act allows local councils in England and Wales to
set reasonable requirements in their development plan documents for a) the
proportion of energy used in a development to be sourced from local renewable
sources and/or local low carbon sources, and b) for energy-efficiency standards
which go beyond Building Regulation requirements.
The Council’s emerging energy policies are aligned with those of the London
Plan 2011, requiring all major developments to reduce their CO2 emissions by
25% over 2010 Building Regulations. This figure will increase to 44% in 2013.
To achieve these targets, all major applications need to follow the principles of
the Energy Hierarchy which promotes the application of the following measures
in this order:
1. Passive design and energy efficiency (i.e. use less energy - ‘be lean’);
2. Energy efficient supply of services (i.e. ‘be clean’); and
3. On site renewable energy technologies to provide energy (i.e. use
renewable energy - ‘be green’).
Whilst the emphasis in the first instance must be to prioritise those measures
higher up the hierarchy, many of the carbon emission reduction targets will only
be achievable through the inclusion of renewable and low carbon energy
systems.
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In relation to climate change and sustainability, the NPPF supersedes PPS1 and its supplement
which required Regional Planning Bodies and all planning authorities to apply various principles
in making decisions about the spatial strategies, including that new development should be
planned to make good use of opportunities for decentralised and renewable or low carbon
energy; and climate change considerations should be integrated into all spatial planning concerns
and PPS22 which required Regional Spatial Strategies to set targets for a minimum amount of
installed capacity for renewable energy in the region. Targets should be set for achievement by
2010 and 2020. Local planning authorities may include policies in local development documents
that require a percentage of the energy to be used in new residential, commercial or industrial
developments to come from onsite renewable energy developments, where viable, and without
placing an undue burden on developers.
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The Council also intends to set specific policy targets for on-site renewables as
part of the Development Management DPD to supplement the London Plan
policies.
In demonstrating compliance with the above targets, developers/applicants are
required to submit a detailed energy strategy. In preparing these statements,
most applicants employ accredited modelling software tools to demonstrate
compliance with the energy planning policies. However, many of these software
tools have limitations, primarily that compliance is demonstrated through
predicted energy output, rather than actual energy generation. There can at time
be some disparity between the predicted and actual output, and accordingly it is
impossible to verify with certainty compliance with policy.
Ealing Council do not currently have a monitoring system in place to verify the
energy and CO2 emissions reduction targets, delivered through on-site
renewable/low carbon installations. instead relying on the accredited software
tools to determine compliance with policy targets.
As noted above this reliance on predicted energy generation, means the Council
is never able to confirm the true compliance with carbon emission reduction
targets. Moreover the lack of monitoring means the Council is not able to confirm
whether the measures detailed in their energy strategy are implemented or their
effectiveness. Manually checking each installation at post construction stage
would be time prohibitive, and it is unlikely that officers would have the technical
knowledge to verify the performance, operation and energy production of the
installed technologies.
Whilst a number of developments in the borough have already installed some
type of monitoring system in order to record and monitor the energy and carbon
dioxide emissions of the buildings, as required by the Code for Sustainable
Homes and BREEAM, under management category, the Council unfortunately do
not receive any data that would allow us to confirm compliance with Ealing’s
energy planning policies.
The pressure to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions at a national, regional and
local level, and the need to monitor its performance in doing this, has led Ealing
to consider applying a renewable and low carbon technology monitoring system.
The Greater London Authority [GLA] recently produced a monitoring tool which
will require all boroughs to start collating and recording energy production
information from all renewable and low carbon technologies, anaerobic digestion,
energy from waste etc installed in each borough.
The procurement of a monitoring service will assist the Council in capturing the
required information to report back to the GLA. In addition it will also assist the
Council in completing its Annual Monitoring Report. It is envisaged that the
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provision of such service will also assist the Council by keeping track of what
renewables and low carbon technologies are finally installed in Ealing, and their
effectiveness. It will also create an evidence base around the performance of
renewable technologies based on different development types.
The Local Development Framework
Ealing is the third largest London borough in terms of its population with 305,000
people (126,600 households) and is one of the most ethnically diverse
communities in the country. If Ealing were classified as a city it would be the 12th
largest in England & Wales4.
There will be significant change in Ealing over the next 17 years. Crossrail will
provide a major impetus for growth and development. Other considerations in
planning for the future of the borough include how to provide low carbon and
renewable energy sources either in small or large scale, where to accommodate
waste management plants to enable increased recycling and less landfill, how to
encourage greener transport including electric cars and how to plan for other
technological changes that will affect the way we live, travel, work and do
business.
Ealing’s Local Development Framework5 (LDF) comprises a portfolio of
documents, which are individually known as Local Development Documents.
These Local Development Documents are either statutory (Development Plan
Documents) or non-statutory (Supplementary Planning Documents).
Development Plan Documents (DPD’s) carry more weight as they are subject to
an independent examination by a Planning Inspector before they are adopted.
Supplementary Planning Documents are not subject to such an examination.
The Council, in accordance with the requirements of PPS 1a, has published an
energy evidence base report entitled Towards Zero Carbon Development in
Ealing6 and a Heat Mapping Study7. These reports establish the rationale and
viability of carbon emission saving targets, examines measures to promote
sustainable design and construction and identifies cluster areas with potential to
establish decentralised energy networks. Both evidence base documents
conform to the adopted London Plan 2011 targets and endorse the Mayor’s
Energy Hierarchy.
4
Based on 2001 census data, usual resident population, table KS01 from a comparison of urban sub-areas.
Link to the LDF Documents
http://www.ealing.gov.uk/services/environment/planning/planning_policy/local_development_framework/con
sultation/
6 London Borough of Ealing, “Towards zero carbon development in Ealing”, Energy Evidence Base,
September 2010
7 London Heat Map Study For London Borough Of Ealing, May 2010
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In addition, whilst adhering to the overall carbon emission saving targets
established in the London Plan, ‘Towards Zero Carbon Development’ goes
further in establishing best practice targets for each element of the energy
hierarchy. Moreover, it also explores the potential to broaden the scope of
targets to cover minor applications and extensions, in addition to major
applications already covered through the London Plan. It is the Council’s
intention to bring these targets forward into its emerging Development
Management Development Plan Document (DMDPD). In effect the policies in
the emerging DMDPD will supplement those policies in the London Plan. A
publication draft of the Development Management DPD is due to be published for
consultation in early summer 2012, with adoption planned for 2013. In the
interim, the Council will continue to apply the policies in the London Plan. The
proposed energy monitoring system would therefore initially only apply to major
applications, with the intention of extending this to smaller applications once the
DMDPD is adopted.
To have some understanding of the number of applications which may trigger the
requirement for renewable/low carbon solutions, the Council have undertaken an
analysis of major applications completed over the past few years. Whilst the
number of major completions has dropped off in the last couple of years because
of the economic downturn, this figure has never fallen below 19 applications
annually. At its peak this number has risen to 51 applications. In most instances,
the applicant will need to rely on renewable/low carbon installations to achieve
the overall carbon emission saving targets in the London Plan.
Whilst the policy framework has been in place for some time now to require
carbon emission savings from major development, it has to date not been
possible to confirm actual compliance. The Council therefore intends to attach a
condition to planning consents, requiring that monitoring devices are installed to
monitor the renewable/low carbon energy generation. In addition this condition
will also require applicants to submit their Energy Performance Certificates
[EPC’s] and the SAP/SBEM modelling output reports from the “as built stage” to
confirm compliance in terms of savings achieved through energy efficiency
measures.
Whilst it is not possible to require applicants/developers to employ the Council’s
chosen service provider to undertake this monitoring, it is hoped that in most
instances this will provide the most attractive and simplest route for them to
demonstrate compliance with the policy and condition. Should an applicant
choose to use third party monitoring equipment they would still be provided
through condition to provide the necessary monitoring data to the Council.
The Council intends to fund this service through monies secured from S106
contributions, charged on individual planning applications. Accordingly costing
should be calculated for individual applications. Consideration may need to be
given to whether the costs will vary dependent on the size/nature of installations.
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Payments will be processed following the receipt of the S106 contribution for
individual applications.
3. Aims and objectives
It should be noted that the procurement of this service does not refer to smart
meters or automatic meter readings [AMR].
The overall aim of this service is to:
Track and monitor compliance with renewable and low carbon energy policies
and the renewable part of the Code for Sustainable Homes and BREEAM.
It should be designed to create minimal additional workload for Council officers.
Key features of this service should include:
a) Ideally an IT based automated system to monitor renewable and low carbon
energy and CO2 emissions from all installed renewable and low carbon
technologies which will allow the Council to confirm compliance with our
energy policies including London Plan 2011 and emerging local energy
policies
b) The software should have an accessible interface, allowing the Council and
applicants to enter and check data. Ideally the monitoring data will be updated
and available in real time.
c) It should provide a record of the, policy target and the predicted and actual
gas, electricity and CO2 emissions in kWh or MWh/yr and kgCO2 or tCO2/yr,
respectively, proposed technology and main fuel source (taken from
accredited energy assessment software as well as proposed technology and
main fuel source), SAP and, Environmental Impact CO2 [EI] Ratings from
SAP and EPC, DER and TER. In addition it should provide the option to
record other information, including application details, type and size of
development etc.
d) The software should be able to monitor energy and CO 2 emissions from all
low carbon and renewable technology including solar technologies, wind,
ground, air and water source heating and cooling pumps, biomass heating
and biomass and natural gas CHP.
e) Provision of real time data preferable per day portraying in a table or graph
would be desirable
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f) Provision of an automated equipment failure alert that informs both the
management company/developer/installer and the Council that the
technology has ceased operating.
g) The ability to run reports for individual installations to confirm compliance with
targets. This should take the form of actual energy output/CO2 emissions, and
an energy summary should be also available at the end of the data input
showing also the % of renewable energy target. It would be also preferable if
a report could be produced showing all the developments with the installed
technologies and the energy and CO2 emission savings.
h) The monitoring service will need to be independent of the Council’s IT
systems.
i) The service provider should be able to provide and maintain any necessary
monitoring equipment.
4. Project Outputs
The provider will provide the Council and the developer if they choose our
provider with:
a) Access to the software
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In particular, the developer/applicant to have flexibility to add
the development’s summary details and access to his own
development.
The Council to have access to all the developments that will
be monitored by our provider.
b) Access to the automatic failure alert system
c) In the event a developer/applicant wishes to employ the Council’s
chosen service, the provider should be able to provide the required kit.
5. Timescale
The envisaged implementation date for this project has been set for 10 July
2012. The Council expects to organise an inception meeting with the successful
provider and several meetings after that but these will be arranged in due time.
6. Management of the commission
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The Council’s Planning Policy Team will have overall management of the
commission.
The contractor is required to nominate one senior person to be in overall charge
of the project and with whom the Council shall liaise. The Consultant will be
required to attend quarterly working meetings with Council Officers to discuss the
work in progress and any issues occur. The exact dates of the quarterly meeting
will be determined in agreement with the contractor. An inception meeting might
take place on 11 July 2012.
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