1. Event jointly staged by Matthew Rhodes Encraft

2. Copyright © Encraft Ltd 2011 T: 01926 312 159 | www.encraft.co.uk The energy policy minefield Local Housing and Sustainable Communities Matthew Rhodes 24 November 2015

3. Copyright © Encraft Ltd 2011 T: 01926 312 159 | www.encraft.co.uk Encraft is an engineering and building physics consultancy working at the leading edge of the low carbon energy sector Distributed Energy Projects Community energy Smart grids District heating and CHP Feasibility studies Project development Programme management Web ApplicationsBuilding Physics The company has grown from a start-up in 2003 to employ 20 professional staff and operate in three specialist areas Certified Passivhaus Consultants Building energy modelling Very low carbon retrofit First-principles design Technology analysis Microgeneration specification tools Planning compliance Asset review Bespoke web applications Mobile devices Kate Ashworth CEng MIMechE Practice Head Helen Brown MPhys, CEPH Practice Head TECHNICAL ASSURANCE Graham Eastwick CEng MIET Practice Head

4. Copyright © Encraft Ltd 2011 T: 01926 312 159 | www.encraft.co.uk Key points Technology and economics are now well ahead of regulation and politics Smarter regulation is critical Things can, and will, only get better (Important note: Energy policy is not a minefield. It is a war zone.)

5. Copyright © Encraft Ltd 2011 T: 01926 312 159 | www.encraft.co.uk Who said this? “What is crucial is what consumers will want. In the past all consumers got the same. One size fits all. Now one size will not fit all. People will want to interact with energy in many different ways.” “The world is clearly moving towards much more distributed generation and towards microgrids” “The idea of baseload power is already outdated. I think you should look at this the other way around. From a consumer’s point of view, baseload is what I am producing myself....for small consumers you need flexibility.” “We will have the intelligence available in the system to ensure power is consumed when [renewables] are available and not when [they] are not there.”

6. Copyright © Encraft Ltd 2011 T: 01926 312 159 | www.encraft.co.uk There are multiple theoretical economic opportunities Local balancing of supply and demand Between houses Between time periods (load shifting) Demand response services STOR Frequency Response “The people’s power station” Technically all these need is a meter, effective aggregation (= low cost communication) and the capability to switch appliances on and off remotely

7. Copyright © Encraft Ltd 2011 T: 01926 312 159 | www.encraft.co.uk Regulatory challenges Housing is considered as neither energy nor infrastructure, and yet it’s core to both  People live in houses supplied with energy via national infrastructure, but you’re not allowed to think about these policy areas together  Building standards dictate energy policy…. Costs of retail supply licence Market definition limited to sale of kWh – and religious commitment to switching within this definition Distribution network regulation Too many economists and not enough engineers  Unable to deal with technology-driven structural change

8. Copyright © Encraft Ltd 2011 T: 01926 312 159 | www.encraft.co.uk But regulation is easier to change than technology, which has pros as well as cons ConPro

9. Copyright © Encraft Ltd 2011 T: 01926 312 159 | www.encraft.co.uk More information Matthew Rhodes Managing Director matthew.rhodes@encraft.co.uk 01926 312159