major development areas was seen as one of the core tasks of LCTF and early steps were taken to establish an implementable proposal for Monkerton. E.ON had already demonstrated that they were a utility that would deliver DH in partnership with others by virtue of their work on Cranbrook. 4.2 Their proposal was to provide a Combined Heat and Power plant and a pipe network to serve the whole Monkerton development. The scheme would be funded by E.ON corporate funding, financed by a long term revenue stream from heat sales, with the funding gap filled by a fixed connection fee for each property connected to the DH system. The revenue stream would be guaranteed by the developers offering a long term concession to E.ON, with a commitment not to run low pressure gas to the site for individual consumers. That would be delivered by the signing of Heads of Terms, followed by a binding legal agreement. Initially, the concept was to use the CHP plant already operating at the Met Office in the southern part of the site. This would have provided sufficient heat for one of the developers who had engaged very positively in the discussions on delivering DH but this was for a scheme serving just under1000 dwellings. 4.3 As the proposal developed, it was clear that a single site wide system was needed, serving nearly 3,000 dwellings. The Met Office CHP was not big enough for this,nor, because of building constraints, could it be expanded to cope with the higher load. After discussions with the landowners (and failure to secure a site on any of the land already owned by the housebuilders), Devon County Council agreed to lease E.ON a site on land that they owned. As this was immediately adjacent to the M5 and in a depression next to the motorway embankment, this was an ideal location for the Energy Centre. Provision was made for the network to be expanded under the M5 to serve additional residential sites being brought forward in east Devon and to serve the Science Park which had planning consent and was proceeding. 4.4 At this stage (Spring 2012), the proposal offered by E.ON was for an 80 year concession, with a connection fee of £4900 for 2900 dwellings. The developers’ response was mixed, with an acceptance that DH in principle was acceptable, but they had concerns about the level of the connection fee in a market that was only just beginning to recover from the 2008 crash and strong reservations about why only E.ON were in the frame, as opposed to a more competitive
major development areas was seen as one of the core tasks of LCTF and early steps were taken to establish an implementable proposal for Monkerton. E.ON had already demonstrated that they were a utility that would deliver DH in partnership with others by virtue of their work on Cranbrook. 4.2 Their proposal was to provide a Combined Heat and Power plant and a pipe network to serve the whole Monkerton development. The scheme would be funded by E.ON corporate funding, financed by a long term revenue stream from heat sales, with the funding gap filled by a fixed connection fee for each property connected to the DH system. The revenue stream would be guaranteed by the developers offering a long term concession to E.ON, with a commitment not to run low pressure gas to the site for individual consumers. That would be delivered by the signing of Heads of Terms, followed by a binding legal agreement. Initially, the concept was to use the CHP plant already operating at the Met Office in the southern part of the site. This would have provided sufficient heat for one of the developers who had engaged very positively in the discussions on delivering DH but this was for a scheme serving just under1000 dwellings. 4.3 As the proposal developed, it was clear that a single site wide system was needed, serving nearly 3,000 dwellings. The Met Office CHP was not big enough for this,nor, because of building constraints, could it be expanded to cope with the higher load. After discussions with the landowners (and failure to secure a site on any of the land already owned by the housebuilders), Devon County Council agreed to lease E.ON a site on land that they owned. As this was immediately adjacent to the M5 and in a depression next to the motorway embankment, this was an ideal location for the Energy Centre. Provision was made for the network to be expanded under the M5 to serve additional residential sites being brought forward in east Devon and to serve the Science Park which had planning consent and was proceeding. 4.4 At this stage (Spring 2012), the proposal offered by E.ON was for an 80 year concession, with a connection fee of £4900 for 2900 dwellings. The developers’ response was mixed, with an acceptance that DH in principle was acceptable, but they had concerns about the level of the connection fee in a market that was only just beginning to recover from the 2008 crash and strong reservations about why only E.ON were in the frame, as opposed to a more competitive
Monkerton-story_FINAL.docx