DESNZ have published "Air source heat pump noise emissions, planning guidance and regulations" research.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/air-source-heat-pump-noise-emissions-planning-guidance-and-regulations  

Posted by: @chickenbig

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DESNZ have published "Air source heat pump noise emissions, planning guidance and regulations" research.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/air-source-heat-pump-noise-emissions-planning-guidance-and-regulations  

 

Definitely worth a read but not earth shattering.  It hints at some minor tweaks to pd rights, but no revolution.  Interestingly it repeatedly states that noise complaints are actually very rare, and often related to poor installation or maintenance.

@derek-m 
What absolute nonsense, modern heatpump a quieter that a gas or oil boiler flue. As for the ones that are noisy that’s due to a lack of maintenance, and could easily be covered under new regulations requiring it to be replace or repaired.

At a New Years Eve shindig, I was talking with my friend who actually works within National Grid (NG).

He was telling me how NG's middle and higher management was gradually being infiltrated by a politically correct HR philosophy.

Apparently DEI now rules the roost. DEI stands for the corporate speak Diversity, Ethnicity, Inclusivity, which in basic terms means that to be considered for a position in middle or higher management. if you are a white male with extensive knowledge of high voltage electrical engineering, don't even bother applying, since your application will be rejected in preference for someone who may have little or no knowledge of high voltage electrical engineering, but is either not male, or not white, preferably both.

For those of you who are now thinking oh that Derek is a male chauvinist racist, I have worked with very competent female Engineers for which I had a great deal of respect, and have worked with many different nationalities of different races, with mutual respect.  What I do have difficulty respecting is people who are put in technical roles who are not qualified to be in such a position, through lack of knowledge and experience.

My friends boss (who was trained as a planner) apparently doesn't understand spreadsheets detailing the various electrical grid systems, the installed equipment, and faults as they develop. So spreadsheets have now been consigned to the bin to be replaced by a simple dashboard, with just three colours, Green means good, red means means bad, with amber meaning not good, but not yet bad. Easy to understand, but unfortunately does not detail why that particular system or equipment is bad or approaching bad, and what measures need to be taken to get it back to green.

I worry that the World is being taken over by destructive forces.

To some extent that may be the case, but it depends which of the National Grid companies you're referring to.

My regional DNO is National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED). They haven't been able to recruit enough female engineers.

We might think that doesn't matter much. But when they get sent out to a job, their first action is to knock on the door of all customers who are on the PSR (Priority Services Register) in the affected area. It might matter to those who answer the door whether they are able to talk with a female engineer.

The CEO of National Grid Group is John Pettigrew, who joined the company as an engineer graduate in 1991 and worked his way up. So right at the top, there is an understanding of the need to have management positions filled with staff from an engineering background.

@transparent Ooh! Perhaps things may be looking up for my chance of being a successful candidate then; against me is that I’m British and white, but in favour, I know diddly squat about high voltage power distribution systems, have little knowledge of spreadsheet reading, have a severe visual handicap, am of short stature and now 76 yo. ;-))) Regards, Toodles.

Posted by: @transparent

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To some extent that may be the case, but it depends which of the National Grid companies you're referring to.

My regional DNO is National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED). They haven't been able to recruit enough female engineers.

We might think that doesn't matter much. But when they get sent out to a job, their first action is to knock on the door of all customers who are on the PSR (Priority Services Register) in the affected area. It might matter to those who answer the door whether they are able to talk with a female engineer.

The CEO of National Grid Group is John Pettigrew, who joined the company as an engineer graduate in 1991 and worked his way up. So right at the top, there is an understanding of the need to have management positions filled with staff from an engineering background.

I can only state what my friend told me. He is a trained Electrical Engineer who has been with NG HV transmission systems for many years and is now in a management role himself, but of the four people in the chain of command above him, none are apparently trained Engineers.

He was also telling me that NG had apparently sold approval for the connection of 300GW of generating capacity, although the country is only deemed to require 50GW.

You or I could apparently apply for a license, since NG are not allowed to refuse an application, and at the present no check is made that the applicant has the equipment, finance or planning permission to actually be able to supply any power. He did state that he believes there is a bill going through parliament to at least rectify some of these issues, such that applicants will have to provide details of finance, proposed planning permission and a viable business plan.

At the moment NG have no idea if any of this 300GW of proposed capacity will ever be connected.

What does happen in reality is that if some not so viable company applies for a license, NG will offer a connection capability at one or two substations. If later a second more viable company comes along and wishes to connect in the same area, they are likely to be refused since the capacity has already been allocated to the former company.

I still reckon someone has opened the asylum gates.

Those generation statistics are derived from DUKES 2022 statistics, which I quoted here on another topic.

We will require about 90GW of possible generation by 2035.

That's taking into account:

• decreased demand in homes due to energy efficiency of lights and appliances
• increase of 10% for EV chargers (NGET future demand calculations)
• increase of a further 10% to accommodate greater supply fluctuations as we implement a higher proportion of renewable sources
• a 'buffer' of 40% above actual peak demand of 48.6GVA during the pandemic

Your friend is correct to suggest that Parliament is aware and taking action.
But I don't think a White Paper has been published, or is required.

Changes are needed to Planning Regulations for applications which include energy generation or storage, but I don't believe that requires a new Bill.

Any of us can make such suggestions to Parliament, either to the Commons Select Committee, or via our MPs to the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.

NGET's licence doesn't require them to liaise with the general public, but they usually respond positively to common-sense approaches.

NG-ESO has personel in management who are being recruited to staff the new Independent Strategic Operator and Planner (ISOP). So this is a good moment to make contact with them. ISOP will be forming a fresh set of guidelines and regulations on which to make progress towards net zero.

I have done all of the above during December 2023...
... which has resulted in a number of ongoing communications.

Some of the wording that @derek-m has just used in quoting his engineering friend is so close to one of my own 'Briefing Papers' that it's possible he has seen what I wrote!

There is a 'live' call for evidence from the Commons Select Committee for ESNZ on the subject "Securing the domestic supply chain".

This closes in 4 days time.

I suggest ignoring the word "securing" and instead viewing this as an opportunity to make suggestions on the subject of supply resilience.

Feel free to appropriate anything I've just posted about Planning!