London business is committed to addressing climate change and supports the need to generate more of London’s energy from decentralised sources. We believe that the target of 25% decentralised energy by 2025, set out in the Mayor’s Climate Change Action Plan, whilst challenging, can be achieved through collaboration between the Mayor, boroughs and business.

To assess how this can be done, London First commissioned a report from member Buro Happold, overseen by an expert steering group, chaired by Neil Pennell, Director of Project Engineering, Land Securities. The report sets out how switching a quarter of London’s energy generation to local area combined heat and power plants could save 3.5m tonnes of carbon emissions annually, improve energy security and help address fuel poverty.

With the support of a working group of members established with Isabel Dedring (the then Environment Adviser to the Mayor), substantial progress has been made on implementing the recommendations of that report:

Energy networks

The report recommended decentralised energy be planned on a district scale and connected to the existing stock. Consensus has been reached on this principle, most recently with the promotion of decentralised energy networks in the draft replacement London Plan.

Energy for London integrator body

Our report also recommended a new ‘integrator’ body within the LDA to help plan and deliver this new infrastructure. A dedicated Decentralised Energy team has been established. In addition £16m has been allocated over four years to identify and bring forward schemes, with a possible further £64m coming on-stream from Europe.

Energy masterplans

We also recommended that Boroughs produce energy masterplans. A heat mapping and masterplanning exercise has begun, driven and funded by the LDA and the boroughs, and supported by the creation of a London Heat Map. The map has the ability to gather new information from those seeking to invest in, develop or identify heat networks. It locates demand, both existing schemes and those in the pipeline, and crucially the long-term public sector heat loads (government estates, hospitals, schools etc) that, when assembled, can act as ‘anchors’ to new networks and help secure stable, long-term returns.

Attracting investment for energy infrastructure

London First also recommended a PPP approach for delivery, in which the public sector unlocks and de-risks schemes to help attract the private investment required to build this new energy infrastructure. The prospectus published by the Mayor describes the regulatory, policy and funding context for investment, setting out the opportunity and a pipeline of potential projects. With the support of a working group of members established with Isabel Dedring (the then Environment Adviser to the Mayor), substantial progress has been made on implementing the recommendations of that report:

• The report recommended decentralised energy be planned on a district scale and connected to the existing stock. Consensus has been reached on this principle, most recently with the promotion of decentralised energy networks in the draft replacement London Plan.
• Our report also recommended a new ‘integrator’ body within the LDA to help plan and deliver this new infrastructure. A dedicated Decentralised Energy team has been established. In addition £16m has been allocated over four years to identify and bring forward schemes, with a possible further £64m coming on-stream from Europe