Abstract |
The objective of the Distributed Energy (DE) Programme is to increase the uptake of DE through the development of integrated systems in order to reduce through-life costs, improve ease of installation and increase efficiency in the combined generation of heat and electricity. Within this programme framework the objective of the Macro DE FRP will develop and validate a software methodology to enable the design of optimised DE solutions where clusters of demand sites are linked with appropriate DE supply equipment. The project will quantify the opportunity for Macro level DE (up to 50MW) in the UK and the potential to accelerate the development of appropriate technology by 2020 for the purposes of significant implementation by 2030.
The objective of this task was to characterise the required 100kWe – 50MWe distributed energy equipment to form a library of DE supply equipment models and to project, by consultation, the technical improvement of these technologies in 2020 and 2030. This has been accomplished and the technology characteristics documented in an extensive spreadsheet.
The projected technical improvements (2020 – 2030) were obtained from consultations with manufacturers and experts in the industry. For the mature technology like gas engine, the projected technical advancement is the future technical standard which is set by the main players in the field. For less developed technologies like fuel cells, the projected technical advancement is the technical judgment from the manufacturers who were contacted. |