Sustainable Energy Community and Energy Master Plan Practitioners
Energy Rating and Planning Services has carried out numerous assessments all over Ireland for various Sustainable Energy Communities. These communities have come together and obtained funding from SEAI to create an Energy Master Plan for their area.
The Sustainable Energy Communities programme run by SEAI is helping to develop structures and models for communities throughout Ireland to take control of their energy consumption and carbon footprint by providing supports to local communities. In order to allow communities to set reduction targets for their community, it is vital to understand what the communities baseline of energy consumption is and to have an action plan for how to achieve the communities targets. The Energy Master Plans we develop help communities to map out the journey ahead for their particular community.
Objective
We understand that the overall objective of Fethard Community Development Association Sustainable Energy Community Network is to become an energy efficient community that strives to reduce its carbon footprint while having a positive impact on the local community, farms and businesses in the catchment area.
The communities goal of reducing its carbon footprint by 3% on average per year can be achieve through the core objectives of the Energy Master Plan.
These objectives are:
1) Provide a baseline of sectorial energy usage, current energy sources and energy-related CO2 emissions for the community.
2) Identify existing renewable energy resources embedded within the community.
3) Establish a register of opportunities for the reduction energy demand and the transition to a renewable energy supply.
4) Create a Sustainable Energy Road Map with projects for years 1, 2 and 3 with targets set against the baseline figures.
Comprehensive Energy Baseline
We will develop a picture of energy use breakdown per sector and fuel types., stored in an editable excel format including summary dashboards and charts. Energy use calculations, estimates and measurements from participating parties will be used to establish final energy consumption with breakdown by fuel, emissions and energy expenditure, where this is possible. Final energy usage data will be translated into primary energy usage data and energy related CO2 emissions as per the factors published by SEAI for the baseline year. The local SEC is understood to be mobilised to collect some data for input to the analysis.
The Project Manager will guide the group on the survey methods which generate best results. At all stages appropriate references will be maintained to ensure future repeatability of the survey and data processing stages. The output will be a high-quality data storage and retrieval system based in excel worksheets but with user friendly graphics and outputs available.
Action Plan and Energy Master Plan Report
The ROO will present a prioritised list of behaviour, efficiency and renewable projects prioritising readily available opportunities or low hanging fruit. An Implementation Plan will develop this list into a detailed and costed roadmap. The EMP Report will include informative user-friendly graphics such as the one below in order to illustrate the need for action in certain properties. The preparation of an EMP Report will increase the likelihood of informed energy decisions and the lessons learned by these early projects will provide vital information to improve stakeholder decision making around energy decisions.
Domestic Energy Audits
As part of the development of the Energy Master Plan, we will provide energy audits of 5-10 domestic buildings and an uplift report for each of the buildings. The energy will consist of a BER certificate which will define the current energy rating of the building. In conjunction with this the Uplift report will provide a technical analysis to determine what measures will be required to bring the building up to an A rating in a staged process. These reports have been very well received by communities across the country as they provide an individual roadmap for the home owner.
Stakeholder Engagement
Our team members understand the power of community engagement and how engaging the community is a vital part of the success of any Sustainable Energy Community. Some of the elements of our approach to community engagement, subject to steering group discussions, may include:
– Development of a web/paper-based home survey for distribution to the local community.
– Development of a high quality information leaflet in PDF format which summarizes the findings of the SEC and promotes interest within the community.
– Participation in community meetings/online presentations with the community to disseminate information about the SEC and the findings of the analysis.
– General recommendations for energy efficiency (including energy management/behaviour change measures) and renewable energy measures within the community.
Non-Domestic Energy Audits
In addition to the Domestic Audits we will also carry out 2-4 Ashree Level 1 audits of non-domestic buildings within the community. These premises will be selected through discussion with the SEC steering group during the kickoff meeting stage, should we be successful with our tender. As there are significant funding streams for Energy Audits of commercial buildings, we would recommend that the audits be concentrated towards community buildings. We will support the community in accessing the commercial grants available from SEAI as part of our process.
Register of Opportunities
With significant experience of developing energy Registers of Opportunities, (RoO) at community level, our team has developed RoO frameworks which support informed practical decision making on energy use and generation. Recommendations developed for the SEC will be practical and contain actionable behaviour change, energy efficiency projects as well as renewable energy projects where suitable. This will include a prioritised list of renewable energy projects appropriate for community ownership (where applicable).
Answers to the question of what makes a good project will be drawn from our engagement with the SEC group and from technical inputs such as CO2 intensity, kWh saved, financial performance, community acceptability and technical challenge.
Two key factors in any set of recommendations are deliverability and funding attractiveness. The RoO is a live document used to identify, evaluate and plan your energy projects. It is presented in an excel workbook because some parts contain formulas to calculate financial and energy savings which in turn input into SEAI grant technical workbooks. Energy projects can be compared against each other to determine those whichhave the best energy impact for the cost of doing the work.