CODE1

Introduction

The CODE (Cogeneration Observatory and Dissemination Europe) project ran from 2008-2011 and was an EU wide independent assessment of the progress of the Cogeneration Directive 2004/08/EC. By giving rapid assessment on the Directive’s deployment the CODE project supported early corrective action. By building regional knowledge bases and providing examples of best practice, the project enabled more rapid market development.

A central database of European cogeneration policy was created which is the first complete summary of high efficiency cogeneration across Europe and the baseline measure for future studies.

CODE used a regional structure to systematically review and report on the Member States progress. Regional groupings provided a Member State and regional summary starting with the high efficiency cogeneration national potentials followed by support mechanisms, barriers and Guarantees of Origin process. A regional view was taken on progress and a handbook of case studies developed to speed up market penetration, through referential marketing and best practise spread.
Another challenging task was the comparisons between the 27 national policy approaches against three standard test cases. All the results were used to produce a European Cogeneration Roadmap leading to 2020.

Aims and outputs

CODE was an EU wide independent assessment of the progress of the Cogeneration Directive. The project partners and the COGEN Europe members encouraged the rapid and effective implementation of the Directive and independently review the Member States’ progress and the success of implementation. CODE highlighted and publicised clear best practise where it occurs and drew attention to areas of poor performance or practical difficulties in implementation.

The deliverables and other outcomes of the CODE project can be visited here: www.code-project.eu

The project aimed:

• To support the implementation of the Directive.

• To enhance local/regional capacity for the successful development of cogeneration projects by developing clear case study data on successful cogeneration projects under the new Directive framework on a regional basis.

• To raise awareness and provide information through a high profile European-wide information, know-how transfer among cogeneration associations, suppliers, local and regional energy agencies and other networks.

• Accelerate the market penetration of cogeneration technologies through producing a European Cogeneration Roadmap, based on national potentials studies.

• Showcasing good practice and potential growth in key market sector.

COGEN Europe worked with its consortium partners, operating in a regional structure, and its national member organisations to review and comment the Member States reports from the industry perspective on a regional basis. Four regional groups were established where members organisations co-operated in gathering and analysing the responses of the 27 governments to the Cogeneration Directive. A central database was created with a summary of each Member State’s responses under the reporting action measures required under the Directive, along with the response itself. At the regional level case studies of best practise projects in the geography were collected. Regional groups reported on the successful and struggling initiatives and the legislation and supported schemes around the directive.

The main outputs were:

• Country-specific info on the directive implementation containing a critical assessment of the progress made by each country towards its stated national potential goals.

• A set of regional focus groups experienced in the operation and implementation of the Directive in their region and able to assist manufacturers and potential end users in its application.

• A Handbook of Case Studies representative of the most successful policies and approaches by region.

• Analysis of barriers and success factors for promoting the development of cogeneration through the Directive.

• Access for interested parties to a central database of information plus a network of local specialists.

• A draft Cogeneration Roadmap for Europe to 2020.