What is decentralised and renewable or low carbon energy?

You would be forgiven for being confused by the large number of terms used to describe different types of energy generation.  The RSS uses the term “Decentralised and renewable or low carbon” energy in Policy ENV5. 

This means that the energy types being sought are always decentralised but can be either renewable or low carbon.  

But what exactly do we mean by each of these terms.

Decentralised Energy means energy that does not rely on the high voltage transmission network or the gas grid.  This includes:

• plants connected to a distribution network
• small scale plants that supply energy to a specific building, community or site
• microgeneration i.e. small installations of solar panels, wind turbines or biomass/waste burners that supply one building or small community,
• combined heat and power plants (including at a micro-scale)
• non-gas heat sources such as biomass, wood, solar thermal panels, geothermal energy or heat pumps, where the heat is used in just one household or is piped to a number of users in a building or community

More on the definition of decentralised energy is available in “Decentralised Energy - business opportunity in resource efficiency and carbon management”.  This is available from http://www.cpi.cam.ac.uk/pdf/SCP%20Taskforce%20Energy%20Report.pdf

and also from http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/uk_supply/energy_mix/distributed_en_heat/distributed_en_heat.aspx

Renewable Energy occurs naturally and continuously in the environment, such as energy from the sun, wind, waves or tides.  More information is available from http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/uk_supply/energy_mix/renewable/explained/explained.aspx

Low Carbon energy is about the generation of heat and power with lower emissions than conventional means, by using more efficient technologies, fuels with lower carbon content or capturing and storing emissions.  More information is available from http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/lc_uk/lc_energy_supply/lc_energy_supply.aspx