COGEN Europe welcomes the progresses made by the European Parliament on the micro-generation Resolution and publishes a new briefing paper on the topic

PRESS RELEASE

09 July 2013

On a sunny day in Brussels, two concomitant events helped painting a blue sky for micro-CHP1.

This morning the European Parliament ITRE2 Committee gave support by overwhelming majority to the Micro-generation Resolution3, put forward by rapporteur Ms. Judith Merkies. Today saw also the publication by COGEN Europe of a new  briefing paper which features the concrete steps at the EU and national levels that need to be taken in order to unleash the potential of micro-CHP and fulfil Europe’s key climate and energy priorities.

The agreed text of the Micro-generation Resolution, stresses the need to give more attention to the untapped potential of small scale technologies to engage citizens and small businesses in producing their own power and heat in a sustainable and energy efficient way. COGEN Europe agrees that microgeneration technologies hold an important potential and points out that in the UK alone micro-CHP deployment can lead to emission reductions of around 4.1 million tonnes of CO2  per year in

domestic   and   non-domestic   buildings 4.   In   addition,   given   the   flexibility   and

controllability of micro-CHPs, technology providers are currently demonstrating how these technologies can be used to balance supply and demand in the electricity market with an increasing share of variable renewables (e.g. by clustering distributed generation installations such as micro-CHP in Virtual Power Plants).

Dr. Fiona Riddoch, Managing Director of COGEN Europe, reacted to the vote: “The benefits of micro-generation technologies, such as micro-CHP, need to be better understood at the national and local levels, in order to unlock their potential to deliver low-carbon, reliable and affordable heat and power to citizens. Today’s vote validates the importance of small scale technologies and the need to address some of the barriers to a faster up-take”.

COGEN Europe will continue to engage with policy makers on this initiative, which will be voted on in plenary on 9 September, while producing further evidence of micro-CHP added value for the European society.

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