CHP turns up the heat - The Government is under intense pressure to give better support to the microgeneration industry. Leon Price reports from the Micropower conference

摘要

The DTI consultation document on the future of microgeneration, launched by Malcolm Wicks, Minister of State for Energy at the recent Micropower conference, seemed to offer some crumbs of comfort for the beleaguered CHP industry. A number of professional bodies, including the CIBSE, which has formed a special interest group on the subject, are throwing their weight behind CHP, but progress is painfully slow and the sector has actually been in reverse for some years. Estimates of the potential market growth vary. The government's CHP target is for 10GWe (electrical power) by 2010 - the current capacity is estimated to be around 5GWe. Despite vocal support by the government for CHP, industry voices bemoan the lack of progress.