Renewable Energy Installer December/January 2014 | Page 44

Corporate concern
Julius Brinkworth, energy & technical director at Power Effi ciency, explains
why corporate Britain is increasingly investing in renewable energy generation
as the prospect of powercuts loom
British companies are looking to install onsite renewable energy
generation as fears about security of supply increase. Currently,
nearly nine out of every ten UK businesses are worried about the
security of their energy supply. Of these companies, 50 percent say
they are investing in renewable energy sources and 43 percent say
they are installing onsite power generation such as biomass or CHP
as a result of these concerns.
These are some of the key fi ndings of a report we recently
published jointly with industry body, the Major Energy Users’
Council (MEUC), entitled ‘Powercut Britain – Are the lights going
out for UK business?’ – It contains the results of a survey we carried
out over the summer of 2013 canvassing the opinions and concerns
of major commercial and public sector energy users in the UK
today. The combined energy spend of the 129 companies which
participated in the survey, which included 10 percent of the FTSE
100, is approximately £1 billion per annum.
Our clients in both the private
and public sector are looking at
every opportunity to install onsite
renewable generation
It is easy to understand why UK corporates so are worried that
the lights could go out for UK plc in the near future. OFGEM has
warned that the UK generating capacity is nearly at full stretch.
With the planned closure of some coal and nuclear power stations,
it says that spare capacity could fall from today’s 14 percent level
to just 4 percent in three years, with a risk of ‘brownouts’ and
‘blackouts’ starting in the winter of 2015-16. More recently, a report
commissioned for the prime minister, David Cameron, from the
Royal Academy of Engineering concluded that ‘there is a growing
risk of power shortages over the next few years’. It also points
out that the closure of older power plants and the slow progress
in building new ones was likely to stretch the system ‘close to
its limits’. Like OFGEM, it concludes that supply is particularly
expected to come under strain in the winter of 2014-15.
We believe the issue of energy
management is moving out of
the plant room and into the
boardroom
44 | www.renewableenergyinstaller.co.uk
Big business: Power Effi ciency’s recent report, published jointly
with The Major Energy Users’ Council, has found over 50 percent of
UK companies to be investing in renewable energy
Certainly, our experience of energy management is that our
clients in both the private and public sector are looking at every
opportunity to install onsite renewable generation, not just a
green credentials exercise, but also because they are increasingly
motivated by the desire to reduce energy costs and decrease their
reliance on the National Grid.
In conclusion, I believe this report highlights the complex
issues facing business in the UK today and underlines why we
believe the issue of energy management is moving out of the plant
room and into the boardroom. It provides a compelling insight
into why managing energy costs and securing security of supply
will dominate the agenda of UK businesses wishing to remain
competitive in the coming decade. It also looks like good news for
the future of the renewable energy installation market.
Copies of the report ‘Powercut Britain, can be downloaded from
www.powereffi ciency.co.uk