The role of natural gas in the energy mix
Phoenix Natural Gas, the gas network operator, has been connecting around 10,000 homes and businesses each year to natural gas since forming the industry here in 1996. Its challenge has been to make natural gas available to around half the population of Northern Ireland and to establish natural gas as the fuel of choice for households, businesses, developers and architects.
Northern Ireland was the last region in the United Kingdom and Ireland to get access to natural gas. To date, Phoenix has invested around £500 million in making natural gas available to around 300,000 homes and businesses. Businesses both large and small were the first to realise the benefits that natural gas would bring, both environmentally as well as economically. The Northern Ireland Housing Executive decided in 2000 that where heating systems were upgraded, natural gas would be the preferred fuel. Property developers and house builders also were quick to see the benefits of natural gas and almost all the properties developed in the last decade in the Greater Belfast area have had natural gas installed.
Growing the gas network to the required level to attract competition has always been one of the key milestones in the development of the local natural gas industry. There are currently four active gas suppliers utilising Phoenix’s network to supply household and business customers. The suppliers compete across each of the customer groups with Airtricity and Firmus competing in both the domestic and commercial markets whilst Energia and Vayu currently only compete in the commercial sector.
Is our energy mix causing fuel poverty?
Numerous reports have highlighted the fact that there is a strong correlation between the number of homes here using heating oil and the incidence of fuel poverty. Only in recent years has this been publicly recognised by local politicians and agencies, with greater support becoming evident for the need to displace our dependency on more expensive and less environmentally friendly fuels such as heating oil by making natural gas available to more households.
A report by Lord Whitty, commissioned by the Consumer Council and published in March this year, highlighted the difficulties with the current energy mix in Northern Ireland and the report argued strongly for the need for heating oil to be replaced by natural gas and for energy efficiency measures to be better promoted.
This aspiration is reflected in the Northern Ireland Executive’s target to make natural gas available to around 70 per cent of the population here. Despite Phoenix’s success in the Greater Belfast area, across Northern Ireland penetration is currently only at around 20 per cent. This is in stark contrast to Great Britain where natural gas is available to over 80 per cent of the population. There is no doubt that this fact, and our over-dependence on heating oil, is a huge reason for the high levels of fuel poverty in Northern Ireland.
Gas and renewables
Phoenix has taken a very supportive stance regarding the introduction of renewable technologies into Northern Ireland, and has worked with agencies and others to help promote their use where appropriate. Many of the independent installation companies predominantly associated with installing natural gas are also now involved in installing renewable technologies. This works particularly well when natural gas is installed as part of the overall solution for a home or business. Clearly, there are certain technologies that are more appropriate for rural areas that are likely, because of their remote geographical location, to never have access to a natural gas network.
In general, renewable technologies are beginning to improve but there are still many lessons to be learnt as the number of installations grow. Phoenix was recently asked to help remedy a situation where a property developer decided to take a chance on renewable technology in the form of a biomass district heating system. Not long after the properties were built and sold, an independent report concluded that the renewable technology installed was in fact not fit for purpose.
In the marketing literature, homeowners at the Woodbrook eco-village in Lisburn were promised they would see major savings but it soon turned out that the company providing the biomass heating would serve notice to the residents that the renewables system would have to be shut down.
Facing the prospect of high energy bills, a winter without heating or hot water and a developer in administration, the residents and local Lagan Valley public representatives lobbied Phoenix to see if we would be able to provide natural gas – the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly practical alternative.
At the time Basil McCrea, Lagan Valley MLA and member of the Stormont All-Party group on renewable energy, told UTV: “The scheme as presented is not viable. That says something about this type of installation. The more that you get to understand the limitations, the more you understand that it does not really work in this environment. There is an issue moving forward but you still have houses that are particularly well-built and insulated.”
Of course, from an engineering perspective, making natural gas available would have been so much easier when the properties were being constructed.
Fortunately the work has gone well to date to get our pipelines extended throughout the development, and all household gas connections are due to be completed by the end of December when the existing renewable energy provider will be cutting off its heat provision.
Key to delivering a balanced economy is the need for a good energy infrastructure that will attract companies who want to set up in Northern Ireland. While 20 per cent of households and businesses across the whole of Northern Ireland are now using natural gas, it should be a clear objective of policy-makers to make natural gas available to as many homes and businesses as possible in the next decade. Phoenix firmly believes that whilst government supports this objective, it needs to continue to drive through legislation and promote the utilisation of natural gas as a primary fuel source. Whilst renewable technologies are vital to gaining a balanced energy mix, it is not a practical or credible position to suggest that they can be relied upon to deliver the social, economic and environmental benefits that Northern Ireland so desperately needs.
Alastair Pollock, Business Development Director, can be contacted on
028 9055 5599 or at alastair.pollock@phoenixnaturalgas.com
