Planning barrier to low carbon schemes

Low carbon community heating and energy schemes need more support to overcome the barriers they face, including the lack of specialist knowledge within planning departments, the Energy Saving Trust (EST) has claimed.

In its report Power in Numbers: the benefits and potential of distributed energy generation at the small community level, the EST said the Government’s feed-in tariff and renewable heat incentive would help, but many other factors still needed to be addressed.

Recommendations included raising public awareness, establishing a network of development officers to support their development, simplifying planning procedures and improving the education of planning officers.

It also suggested the development of ‘off the peg’ legal and business models, which would also help the establishment of Energy Services Companies (ESCOs) to initiate and finance projects.
The report reviewed which technologies, including sol-ar thermal, biomass, heat pumps and combined heat and power (CHP), were suitable for different types of communities.

Dr Sylvia Baron, renewables strategy manager at EST, said: “Even without financial support there are hundreds of communities where it would be cost-effective to install micro generation or low carbon technology.

“But these communities are not doing so because of the bureaucracy and inflexible processes and barriers along the way. Many measures do not need huge amounts of money – just a simplification of the process.”

Chris Baker, partner at legal specialist Davies Arnold Cooper, is advising developers in several community projects involving geothermal heat pumps and CHP. He said: “We need more standardised models of ESCOs, more certainty around financial support and I think there is a desperate need to educate planning officers about what is feasible within these schemes.
 
'I can see a role for development officers, but they must have the relevant expertise.”