critical power

Socomec has received approval from the Enhanced Capital Allowance Scheme (ECA) for nine of its UPS systems, making them eligible for tax incentives under a British Government energy saving scheme.

he Socomec Delphys Green Power 2 500kVA and Masterys Green Power 2 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 80, 100 and 120 kVA have been added to the Energy Technology Product List since March 2013.

Customers who buy a UPS system with the ECA approval are entitled to receive capital allowance benefits and claim back costs, such as project costs, from the Government as part of its energy saving guidelines.

These nine units join Socomec’s existing range of available ECA qualifying UPS products on its Energy Technology Product List. Socomec’s were among the first UPS systems to get ECA approval in 2010 ranging from 100 to 400 kVA.

The ECA is a UK-based scheme offering long- and short-term tax incentives to businesses that buy approved products that offer improved energy efficiency and reduced environmental impact.

A Cummins generator set is being used at a Kuwait horticultural site run by the Kuwait Institute of Scientific Research to grow 500kg of mushrooms a day.

The C550 D5(S) generator set has been supplied by General Transportation & Equipment Co (GTE) to the cutting-edge specialist farm in Wafra in southern Kuwait, located on desert land. The environmental challenges of the location meant a unit was needed that could withstand high temperatures, winds and dust storms.

The generator will supply prime power to the mushroom production system until grid connectivity is established, it will then be used for standby power. An uninterrupted power source is necessary to keep the mushroom production going, any power failures could result in significant losses to the crop.

The project’s essential systems include cooling, heating, steam, air and water, plus sensors for carbon dioxide, ammonia, humidity and temperature. The generator set is powering a large number of equipment types, including air handling units, chillers, hot air and steam boilers, reverse osmosis units, freezers, pumps, controllers and special lighting – in addition to normal room facilities.

The UK Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has released details of its capacity market design, which is to begin in 2014, to meet the UK’s energy needs.

It aims to incentivise reliable capacity from both the supply and the demand side. The National Grid will purchase the total volume of generation capacity required through a central auction, which will include all providers that offer capacity. Incentives will be offered to energy companies to invest in new capacity.

This will form part of a wider scheme to slash electricity demand by 9% by 2030. Following closures of old coal-fired power plants the country is facing an electrical energy shortage, so investing in additional reliable capacity is essential.

New and existing generation sources will be eligible to participate in the capacity market auction, as will demand side response suppliers and energy storage systems.

The amount of capacity required will be judged for each year, the DECC will set out the requirement 4.5 years ahead of the delivery based upon how much is expected to be available from other sources and how much therefore must be auctioned.

Ziko Abram, director and co-founder of KiWi Power, a demand response management firm, said in response to the news: “The transitional arrangements announced today for demand-side response demonstrates the potential for non-generation technologies to make a significant contribution to securing the UK’s energy supply. ‘Negawatts’ will play an increasingly important role in the future design of our electricity network.”

It is unclear yet whether speed of response will be compensated or if the value of capacity alone will be paid. Abram added: “We must ensure that further work regarding the detailed design of an enduring mechanism continues and that it will support demand-side response participation, while encouraging its growth within the industry. Demand-side response must be allowed to operate on a level playing field alongside other forms of capacity.”

Production capacity is in place to guard against losses in generation when there is a lot of variable renewables on the supply side.

The US plan for tackling climate change, as announced by President Obama this week, highlights several energy efficiency targets to reduce carbon by at least three billion metric tons by 2030.

The strategy includes the Environmental Protection Agency establishing carbon pollution standards for new and existing power plants; it also makes up to US$8 billion in loan guarantee authority available for an array of advanced fossil energy and efficiency projects to support investments in innovative technologies.

For renewable energy projects, the Department of the Interior is to permit sufficient renewable energy projects to be built on public lands by 2020 to power more than six million homes and has set a goal to install 100 MW of renewables tied to federally assisted housing by 2020; this is in addition to maintaining the commitment to deploy renewables on military installations. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association more than 8 500 MW of solar power is already installed across the country.

The address received mixed responses, former Vice President Al Gore called it the best address on climate ever made by a president.

In a statement, the American Sustainable Business Council said: “We believe the president’s plan, with its focus on efficiency standards for homes and appliances, greater renewable energy development on public lands and regulating carbon pollution, will build a more resilient and market-based transition to a clean energy economy. This in turn will boost investment and create jobs. Addressing climate change now will create new economic opportunities and will allow the U.S. to remain competitive. It’s an investment worth making.”

While Rhone Resch, President of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said: "America's solar energy industry stands ready to do our part to help fight climate change and usher in a new era of clean energy in America and around the world."

Critics said job losses in the coal industry suggest Obama does not care about workers, but the solar industry responded by suggesting the growing renewable industry could compensate for these losses. Mr. Resch said 12 000 workers are employed in the US solar industry at more than 5 600 companies.

The global generator set market will be US$41 billion by 2018, but diesel is facing fierce competition from natural gas gensets, according to a report by Navigant Research, a market research and analysis consultancy firm.

The report warns that diesel’s grip on the market is waning. “Although providers of diesel gensets can expect to see continued growth over the next several years, they face rising competition from natural gas gensets,” said Dexter Gauntlett, Navigant research analyst.

“Over the next decade, the increase in unconventional gas resources and tightening emissions regulations for stationary generators will favour clean-burning natural gas systems over their diesel counterparts in North America,” he added.

The report states that diesel gensets remain “one of the least expensive, most reliable technologies available today” for commercial facilities like hospitals and data centres that require “mission-critical power in the event of a grid outage”.

Navigant says that in the short term, countries with strong economic and/or population growth rates that also increasingly suffer blackouts – such as Nigeria, India, Chile and South Africa – will continue to drive diesel genset sales.

The report picks out India as an example of a country where industries have become highly dependent on diesel due to power outages spanning as much as 16 hours per day, making them more vulnerable to price volatility.