Automatic Environmental Controls. CERT Funding

A Guide for Social Housing Providers

Introduction
AEC have had their technology approved for inclusion under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT). We are therefore able to attract funding for improving the efficiency of communal heating systems and deliver carbon reductions and save money.

Here we outline the steps that we need to go through together in order to deliver the savings and receive the funding. It is a collaborative process and we will strive to achieve 100% funding where possible but will need the help of you and your contractors.

We have an exclusive relationship with EDF Energy for the provision of funding and will work with them on the CERT projects. This does not mean that you are under any obligation to procure your energy from EDF, but they would be happy to talk to you about this if you wish.

Requirements from funded sites
First it must be stressed that CERT funding is only available for residential properties and not commercial buildings. Our focus within this is communal or district heating systems for social housing providers and local authorities.

Controls - It will be useful to have a fully functional heating system with adequate controls – these may be poorly configured, if so the strategy will be reviewed as part of the service. AEC will inspect all plant and controls prior to taking any proposals forward

Metering - Primary gas metering with automated day plus one data availability
If not already in place we will make arrangements for installation through a specialist metering company – there will typically be a small charge for this (see metering below)

Planned refurbishment - There must be no plans for any major refurbishment of the plant or controls. If you do plan any major works we will be happy to review the site once completed as it is highly likely that we will still be able to identify and deliver energy savings.

Commitment to savings - A commitment to maintain the system for the long term and assurance that all maintenance will be carried out in a timely manner as and when required
We will know through energy monitoring when and quite possibly why a system is failing, once identified any issues must be resolved immediately.

Contractors - Commitment from your contractors and internal staff who have responsibility for delivery or maintenance of the heating system and its controls
We will meet with them and highlight what we are going to do, why we are doing it and the benefits all round. We see this as a collaborative process and are happy to consider any ideas on how to make the programme work better for all of us.

Gas consumption - Most sites consuming over about 2.5 million kWh should be able to achieve100% funding, these can also be aggregated across a group of sites if necessary. It is unlikely that we will be able to undertake projects on small individual sites; we will however work with you to put together a proposal that should take best advantage of the opportunity.

The funding criteria
Our initial requirement is to deliver a minimum 10% saving of heating (normally gas) consumption. It is assumed within the CERT programme that the savings will be maintained for 10 years.

To ensure that the savings are maintained over the long term AEC will be happy to prepare a maintenance agreement beyond year one.

This is measured initially by comparing a minimum of two consecutive four week periods, the first running as current “non AEC control” and the second with AEC’s enhanced control strategy.
This is then degree day normalised and the results forwarded to the Building Research establishment (BRE) for verification.

Continual energy measurement will take place and a second report based on 11 months “on control” will be forwarded to the BRE for further verification.

The process
AEC will undertake a site survey and review plant and controls for suitability in the scheme, including the availability of data from controls and ability of the plant to be controlled etc.
It is possible that we will require elements of maintenance to be carried out or additional IO to be implemented within the controls system. If required these will be a pre requisite of going forward, but will also help deliver the savings

A short list of potential sites is forwarded to AEC for preparation of the funding application with the following information (some of which will require your involvement marked *): -

Social Housing Provider / Local Authority
Site address*
Detailed specification of works
Estimated annual energy consumption of each site*
Estimated energy savings per site
Number of dwellings at each site*
Percentage of “priority group” residents at each site*
A signed copy of the “SHP Declaration” – (see appendix A)*
Covering letter from the SHP/ Local Authority – (see appendix B)*

The application will then for forwarded by AEC to EDF for approval.

Metering
Automatic meter reading (AMR) is key to the measurement and maintenance of energy savings, as well as enabling you to better manage your billing etc. On approval AMR will be required (if not already in place) to enable you (and us) to receive gas consumption on a day plus one basis. The AMR contract will be between you and the metering company, it is your data, but we must have access to it as an essential part of our monitoring and reporting.

Where pulsed meters are not in place we will enquire on your behalf about the upgrading of meters to pulsed, this will again be at your cost, normally this is minimal.

Data collection
Working with your BEMS systems house or M&E contractors as necessary we will receive the required data logs from the BEMS.
NB this will vary from site to site, but will include all key temperatures. The data logs will also reveal if there are any mechanical issues with the system that will have to be addressed.

A report on the current control strategy will be prepared with detail on the necessary enhancements to be made.

The enhanced report will be presented to you and your relevant contractors for approval prior to implementation, if there are any issues these can be dealt with at this stage.

Implementation will normally be carried out by your systems house, M&E contractor or in house resource. This is to ensure that the normally responsible individuals become a central part of the solution and will not be overlooked or feel threatened by the process. If as a result of implementation there are any issues we will be on hand to help resolve them quickly.

Approval
On completion of the implementation an approval letter must be completed for EDF Energy stating that the works have been carried out to your satisfaction (see appendix 3) – This does not relate to the savings.

Post implementation a second set of data logs will be forwarded to AEC for verification of the enhanced control strategy being correctly implemented.Through ongoing monitoring of the primary energy (gas) meter we will be able to model the post implementation energy consumption against the pre implementation and measure savings

If we see a reduction in the savings through this monitoring we will immediately raise an alert to find out why.
There are two basic causes for loss of performance

A. Mechanical failure - Where this is identified we will inform the relevant maintenance party and they must rectify the problem as a part of their maintenance contract
B. Control failure - In the case of this we will work with the respective parties to rectify the issue. If this is due to set points being changed without our knowledge we will need to know why and have a full justification as this will affect our ability to make savings for you and receive the necessary funding for those savings.

It is essential that any issues affecting the good working of the plant and controls and thus the delivery of savings must be dealt with in a timely manner

Reporting
The first main report will be the “short term monitoring” report undertaken one month after implementation of the controls changes, this will be submitted to the BRE for verification on behalf of OFGEM.

The “final” year one report will be after 11 months of post implementation monitoring, this again will be forwarded to the BRE for verification on behalf of OFGEM.

If there are issues or failures we will issue interim reports to ensure that these are identified and resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.

Naturally copies of all reports will be forwarded to you.

Long term monitoring and savings
Energy management must be seen as a long term initiative, if left unmonitored the likelihood is that the savings achieved will be lost, resulting in additional unnecessary cost and increased C02 emissions. Maintaining the savings delivered within the CERT scheme will be relatively easy given the metering you will have put in place and the maintenance regime that should already be in place.

We will prepare a long term energy savings maintenance programme proposal for you to ensure that the savings are maintained. Typically the costs associated with this are minimal in relation to the overall savings we are targeting.

In conclusion CERT offers a significant opportunity to make savings on your district heating systems that should be able to be fully funded. The process is transparent and open to scrutiny from you and your contractors, it is also based on the integrity of the data that we work with and not any pre conceived ideas as to what we think your system should be doing. We have a strong track record in delivery in this area and look forward to working with you to help you save a minimum of 10% of your energy at appropriate sites.

Click to download these forms:
CERT Declaration form

(44KB)
CERT covering letter

(32KB)
CERT post implementation approval letter

(29KB)

AEC Ltd, Timbers, Picketts Lane, Nutley, East Sussex, TN22 3EG