Why are we involved?
We are leading the market for low-carbon energy options, and this does not stop at our power stations. Our investment in microgeneration as a whole and in developing the WhisperGen Micro Combined Heat and Power (mCHP) unit in particular is part of our commitment to help our customers to do their bit to fight climate change – and save money in doing so.
How will it work?
A WhisperGen unit acts like a normal high efficiency gas boiler, providing heat and hot water, but it also drives a generator to produce electricity. This means that you will need to use less electricity from the grid.
A WhisperGen unit thus provides an average household with a saving of about £150 per year.* It also reduces carbon dioxide emissions by up to 1.5 tonnes per year, a real contribution towards tackling the effects of global warming. That’s around 20% less carbon dioxide per household.
Any excess electricity that the system generates can be sold back to us.
Current status
Micro CHP for the home is a new and revolutionary technology supported by the new government feed-in-tariffs. We are not currently delivering any units to customers, but together with our manufacturing partners, we are working towards a full market roll-out of mass-manufactured units from 2011. In order to achieve this and ensure full customer satisfaction, we are now running commercial tests of the latest model of this technology, and will continue to do so throughout 2010.
Please continue to check this website for further updates over the course of 2010.
* Taken from the EA Technology report for the Energy Saving Trust based on a three to four bed house.