THE future – at least that of the mid 21st century – appears to be bright. Bloomberg’s New Energy Outlook (NEO) report for 2018 takes an optimistic view of the prospects for renewables. The financial news and media giant’s report predicts that by 2050, wind and solar technology will provide almost 50% of total electricity globally – “50 by 50” – with hydro, nuclear and other renewables taking total zero-carbon electricity up to 71%.

Andrew Lyle, managing director of the Locogen Group, an Edinburgh-based pioneer in the renewable energy sector, is at the very heart of this drive toward zero carbon and he is similarly optimistic about the global prospects outlined by Bloomberg.

As he is for Scotland and the rest of the UK by 2050, though while he believes that the Scottish Government has been supportive of the agenda locally, is concerned that a lack of direction and policy in Westminster is creating uncertainty which will be challenging for mature onshore wind, solar and hydro in the short term.

The firm has been busy over the past two years and in 2016 it set up a presence in France. “We recently got planning consent for our first wind project and we have a pipeline of further wind and solar projects in the planning system and in development,” says Lyle.

“France is very supportive of renewable energy projects and has strong long-term policies and targets so we see this as a key market in the future.”

Locogen had been primarily operating in the areas of wind, solar and hydro power but has also increasingly diversified into renewable heat. It recently purchased a Glasgow based biomass and heat pump company and now has a team in Glasgow which is developing district heating and heat pump project projects – shared loop district heating schemes that serve multiple properties.

Lyle is enthusiastic about the potential in this area, an enthusiasm fuelled by the fact that Locogen is on the cusp of signing two leading-edge projects in the sector. “Our first community heating contract is a week away from being signed. It’s a joint venture with a community group to deliver our first district heating scheme, which will be commissioned before December,” he says.

This, he adds, is a shared loop, ground source heat pump project and the first in Scotland to provide heat via a shared loop heat pump network to privately owned homes. A second project, just weeks away will see Locogen as the contractor in a similar programme. “The fact that we are involved in the first of these projects in Scotland is pretty fantastic,”

says Lyle.

“Without a doubt the area of shared loop district heating and heat pump projects is going to majorly increase in significance in the coming years as there are so many benefits deriving from this over the other forms of district heating.”

While Locogen is still undertaking wind and solar projects – such as the impressive Solar PV project at 10 sites around the UK for the M&Co clothing chain, with an expected annual generation of 643,000 KWH – he says that the scale of the market for wind and solar been hit by the removal of the Feed-in Tariff and the Renewable Obligation schemes. “When you look at a windfarm, you can go down the route of a corporate PPA [Power Purchase Agreement] and some of the very large companies are now 100% renewable via windfarms on PPAs.

“At the smaller, community scale it’s more challenging but there is real opportunity in renewable heating and district heating and we see it in the new build housing and social housing sector, where we can offer an ESCO [Energy Supply Company] arrangement to deliver these projects. And that is our goal: to provide ESCO services and deliver renewable heating to these buildings,” he says.

In May this year Lyle addressed 280 delegates at Low Carbon Scotland on Scottish policy and renewable opportunities for the public sector. The event is a unique annual conference that addresses Scotland’s current carbon position and facilitates discussion among those leading and driving policies.

“Low Carbon Scotland was a very good chance to discuss the issues and the opportunities within the sector. Looking at the public sector, I was trying to show where the opportunities lay, focusing on behind the meter wind and solar technologies, biomass heating, heat pumps and district heating schemes,” says Lyle. Now with 26 staff between Scotland and France, Lyle – who is also a director of Scottish Renewables – believes there is definitely room for expansion. “We are keen to open an office in London,” he says. “The mayor has announced an Energy for Londoners scheme and the Mayor’s Energy Efficiency Fund so there is a huge opportunity to work with businesses and housing associations, developers and the public sector to deliver renewable and low carbon energy projects in London.”

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