Pipe up, by Geoff Barker

“By 2030, more than one in three of the 115 million ­boilers sold in Europe could be a ­microCHP system.”

As consumers seek to cut their heating bills further, and governments turn to low-carbon heat and power, a new standard in Europe for heating equipment is emerging – micro-combined heat and power (microCHP). In fact, a recent report by the EU-funded organisation Cogeneration Observatory and Dissemination Europe (CODE) identified microCHP as the future for new heating appliances. This new form of microgeneration technology allows domestic gas boilers to generate electricity while they heat a home and is reported to cut a household’s electricity bill in half and reduce its carbon emissions by up to 20 per cent.

It was promising to see that, according to CODE, by 2030 more than one in three of the 115 million boilers sold in Europe could be a microCHP system. There are a number of factors behind this, mainly that consumers across Europe are facing high energy bills, which is making the advantages of microgeneration technologies more attractive. As a result, microCHP boilers, along with wood pellet burners and heat pumps, are emerging as one of the most proficient new home heating technologies.

At the same time, many governments across Europe are already subsidising decentralised electricity production. In the UK, the feed-in tariff for microCHP has been left unchanged in proposals put forward by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, despite significant proposed reductions under the scheme for solar. The scheme has seen more than 600,000 PV installations since its start in 2010, compared with 600 microCHP installations. This is good news for the microCHP industry and will help support the deployment of the technology.

Finally, with the volume of boilers in production rising, the manufacturing costs will fall, making the investment in microCHP even more attractive. At Flow we’ve already managed to achieve costs at the lower end of CODE’s 2020 forecast for our microCHP boiler.

In the UK, virtually all new boilers sold are condensing boilers that recover heat from the water vapour in flue gases, which makes them more efficient. This is lower across Europe, but new energy labelling will drive uptake. This type of boiler was slow to take hold but is now the dominant type in Europe, and in many countries is mandated through regulations. Boiler manufacturers across Europe are now looking for what will replace condensing boilers – and the focus is firmly on microCHP.

This type of boiler is set to revolutionise the market – helping to secure better, cleaner energy for the UK.

Geoff Barker, business development director, Flow Energy