Reports and News

low-temperature carbonisation and coal gasification plants. So far three plants are envisaged-a t Bombay, Calcutta and Andhra Pradesh. The first two will produce 374 000 cubic metres of gas per day from a coal input of 900 tonnes/day at a cost of nearly $30 million. The know-how for this has been developed by the Central Fuel Research Institute, Dhanbad. In Andhra Pradesh a low temperature carbonisation project will be set up using 900 tonnes per day of coal for consumption as domestic fuel, the know-how for which exists with the Regional Re- search Laboratory, Hyderabad. While coal is indeed relatively the cheapest source of energy production, col- lieries in India have been neglected or at most outmoded methods of mining adopted. It has been esti- mated that steel plants alone will need about 30 mt of coal; power plants will consume another 45 mr, and other industries about 20 rot. The railway will also be consuming coal in large quantities. All this will be needed by the end of the Fifth Plan ie 1978/79. In other words, India will have to produce 56 million tonnes to reach the 135 million tonne target in just 5 years. This is a difficult task since it involves con- siderable resources, and managerial and technical capabilities amongst the producers and the Ministries of Railway, Steel and Power.

Yet another bottleneck arises in the transport of coal to consuming centres. This important factor act- ually affected the production of steel, cement and paper during 1973. In some States like Haryana, and Punjab (in the north) and Tamil Nadu (in the south) there was 40 per- cent unsatisfied demand in coal. The main reason for this state of affairs is due to inadequate wagon movements and non-availability of railway wagons.

It has, therefore, been suggested that a central Energy Board should be created to coordinate and con- centrate on the functioning of the various organisations, and to col- lectively plan the development of coal production and the distribution programme.

Heat distribution' a trend in energy alternatives

The UK experience For every unit of electricity pro- duced two more of heat ~re released. For every kilowatt of electricity, two kilowatts of heat are wasted. The consumption of fuel used for the production of electricity in the UK, as a proportion of all fuels used for all purposes, is a fraction under one t h i r d - 1 1 0 million tons of coal equivalent (mtce) against 327.7 mtce. The official figure for waste by the electrical industry is 22% of the same total of use for all purposes, ie 72 mtce. The official 'ration' per head of population is 5.87 tons. 1 The amount going to waste could provide very nearly 1.3 tons per head, over and above what is used at present for heating.

The possibility of re-engineering the generation of electricity to en- sure the distribution of heat equiv- alent of 1.3 tons of coal equivalent to each of us is remote. There is, however, the alternative of combined heat and power generation with heat distribution - total energy.

The UK was early in the field with an installation in Manchester whose origins and fate are something of a mystery. Then came the Pimlico/ Battersea power station scheme where two auxiliary turbo-alternator generators, each of 1350 kW, work- ing in back-pressure, are supplying hot water accumulators and the dis- tribution scheme. A reasonably full technical description appeared in the first issue of the District Heating Association's Annual Handbook in 1969.

The Aldershot military town scheme, so successful it has been extended recently by 50%, is powered by diesel engine-driven alternators with heat recovered from cooling and exhaust. Accumulators are used; oil-fired boilers, using the same fuel as the diesels, also supply direct heat at peak times. The town covers 7-5 kM 2 (1700 acres), with 25 000 military people living there.

There is another total energy

scheme outside Coventry that is fully industrial - supplying Courtauld's textile works with steam, heat and power. This is a CEGB power station known as Spondon 'H'.

There are also many enclosed industrial total energy p l a n t s - breweries, motor car, fertiliser, oil and chemical refining, paper making and other large energy consuming plants have had total energy pro- duction for as long as they have been in business, most of them for more than 30 years.

Experience elsewhere in Europe But the British record of using its waste heat is poor. In other countries where the electrical generation indus- tries have either remained indepen- dent, or have been in municipal hands, the authorities concerned have had to sell their heat to remain viable. The USSR claims to have first converted a conventional condensing steam-turbo set in 1926 and has gone on to a mandatory position where no industrial or domestic heat or electric load of 500 MW or more can be set up unless full integration in the total energy mode can be contrived. Vari- ations on this theme exist in all eastern-bloc countries.

Paris is served by a number of back-pressure power stations in a very large district heating scheme. Some units are combined with in- cineration. Mannheim and Munich are very similar. Hamburg is one of the largest with three major power stations producing heat and power. Bremen and Munich have 25 MW gas turbines working in the total energy mode. Rotterdam has total energy for tire city's heat and power sup- plied by natural gas. Denmark has over 400, mostly oil-fired, boiler systems and some seven to ten total energy schemes supply district heat- ing in the larger urban areas.

But of all European countries Sweden has progressed fastest and learned most: a quarter of the popu- lation receives distributed h e a t -

82 ENERGY POLICY March 1975

even though 76% of all electricity is generated hydraulically.

Malm6 has 78% heat load satu- ration and V~isteras, 98%. In Stock- holm seven miles of rock tunnels have been specially excavated for insulated heat distribution mains. Plans have been prepared for heat distribution from nuclear power stations, and in one case, Forsmark, north of Stockholm, it is reckoned that, by the yardstick of present prices for oil, it would pay to put in a pipeline the full distance, a matter of 100 miles.

The Swedes are looking at single, one-way pipelines (all conventional systems have both flow and return pipes, for heating and cooled water) using accumulators at each end and reversed flow according to local con- ditions; and sea water for heat trans- port medium and rejection to waste at delivery point after heat extrac- tion. Sweden is almost wholly dependent on imported oil, some imported coal, and has no indigenous energy source .except its now limited hydro-power.

Learning from Europe In the new energy situation, there is evidence of a growing movement towards more use of total energy in the UK and a change of emphasis on the part of the CEGB, partly as a result of the Swedish experience.

Sir John Hill, Chairman of the UKAEA has written: 2 'I think that there can be no doubt that the combined production of electricity and heat can be more economical of energy than their separate produc- tion in separate facilities. The wide- spread use in large industrial plants of pass out steam establishes this advantage. The economics of district heating are determined by whether the fuel saving justifies the additional capital cost of the heat distribution system that is involved. I am sure that the higher cost of fuel will improve the economics of district heating systems based on simul- taneous production of electricity and heat'.

Pressure was put on the CEGB to reconsider its whole attitude to the use of fuel at meetings of the House

of Commons Select Committee on Energy. Mr Arthur Hawkins, Chair- man of the CEGB, confirmed that the Area Boards were now considering their territories to see what oppor- tunities there might be for combined heat and power generation.

For the first time in its annual report, the CEGB goes into detail on the subject of district heating 3 and speaks o f ' . . , intensifying its efforts to make such heat supplies attractive. Installation of gas-turbine power stations in urban areas should offer many opportunities for small and medium-size district heating schemes. The Board would, as always, wel- come approaches from local author- ities and others who might require heat supplies and is actively seeking opportunities in collaboration with Area Boards.'

Both the Institute of Fuel 4 and the Central Policy Review Staff s have asked for more emphasis on total energy and district heating. The CPRS report estimated that 'a total of four million dwellings could be connected to simple district heating schemes by the year 2000 and that fuel savings equivalent to 0.75 mtce would be achieved.' The sum total of these, and other developments and reports presages a new era of con- sideration for the technology of heat distribution in the UK. Whether this is also evidence of a complete change of heart is something altogether dif- ferent.

Reports and News

There are, however, other pointers to the way events are moving else- where. In France there is an energy council, the USA has recently pro- posed changes in the terms of refer- ence for its atomic energy authority, dropping the atomic connotation; now we hear from Australia that the New South Wales Government has approved in principle the assumption by a single energy authority of res- ponsibility for all forms of energy distribution, utilisation and develop- ment, together with the existing powers and functions of the elec- tricity authority, the energy advisory committee and gas engineers. A major consideration for the UK Government must now be whether a viable and coherent energy policy can be formulated without replacing the electricity council by an energy council.

Norman Jenkins, Surrey, UK.

1 UK Department of Energy Annual Statistics. 2 Letter to the Editor, Energy Inter- national, May 1974. 3 CEGB Annual Report 1974, Paras 163/4, according to the index, but see also 165/8 inclusive. 4 Energy for the Future, a report of the Institute of Fuel's Policy Committee chaired by Dr lan Fells (1974). 5 Energy Conservation, a study by the Central Policy Review Staff, HMSO, £1.00.

OECD looks towards 1985

A report* published by The Organis- ation for Economic Co-operation and Development on 14 January sees five main areas for international co- operation within the member coun- tries:

- a concerted effort in conservation of energy;

- accelerated development of OECD indigenous resources and intra- OECD energy trade;

- provision of adequate mechanisms for lowering the risk of financial and monetary instabilities related to energy imports;

- co-ordination of energy research and development;

- co-ordination of new efforts to overcome growing environmental problems.

The report, 'Energy prospects in 1985: an assessment of long-term energy developments and related

Energy Prospects to 1985: an assessment of /ong term energy developments and related policies. Volumes I and II, a report by the Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD Publications, 2, rue Andre-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16; Vol. 1,224 pp. Vol. II 211 pp, £4.50, $11.24, F 45, 1975).

ENERGY POLICY March 1975 83