There were a few threads on Micro CHP a few months ago but I haven't heard anything since. What's the current status on these - are they still in trials mode or are they becoming generally available?
I'll probably replace my inefficent old cast iron boiler in a year or two so I'm trying to research the various options ahead of time.
Cheers
Neil
I notice no-one replied to this thread - shame, because I was interested :-}
After I posted this I contacted the two companies I knew to be working on this ie Powergen and BG.
Powergen didn't get back to me, but I gather their product is called Whispergen and is based on a product from New Zealand. It's a floor standing unit and according to the NZ firm it has a maximum useful heat output of 9kW. This is not enough for my house and so their product is ruled out, unless they increase this.
BG got back to me on Monday. It seems their product, Microgen, will not now be generally available until late 2005 ("... in time for the winter heating season.") which is at least a year later than I had read on their website.
The Microgen is a wall-mounted boiler produced in conjunction with a Japanese engineering firm. The Stirling engine is presumably similar to the Whispergen (they both produce 1.1kW electricity) but the addition of a second burner gives more flexibility. They are aiming to produce a range of products - 15kW, 24kW & 36kW system boilers, and
24kW & 36kW combis - each of which can modulate down to 5kW.To begin with it will be natural gas only and requires a live electricity connection, but they say that they may produce versions for other fuels and that in future it may be possible to add a grid-independent option to allow continued operation during a power cut.
I'm slightly disappointed by the delay but BG seem to have got the design of the Microgen about right - I'm certainly interested and will follow their developments before making a decision about my replacment boiler. Of course, if my existing boiler packs up before the Microgen comes onto the market, their delay might well cost them at least 1 sale. (I offered to take part in their trial but presumably they've found enough trial sites now.)
If anyone knows of any other mooted CHP products for the UK, please let me know and I'll contact the manufacturer and post back here.
I hope this is of some interest to some.
Happy New Year!
Neil
Yeah, shame about the delays as you say...
Sadly i`m sure BG will price theirs at a "premium" roughly double the cost of a higher spec system elsewhere :-(
I missed this post and would have replied, giving what roughly has been found.
They say it will be competitive with all the top range condensing boilers. The company is BG Technology, which is not BG, although under the same umbrella, Centrica. They do research. The Japanese company, Renai, is one of the largest a/c companies in the world.
Given that they just did a *basic* system with a cheap condensing boiler=20 in my mother-in-laws for =A34600 (IIRC) that doesn`t inspire confidence
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They are not the same company. Also, Microgen, a separate company again, has been set up.
I don't think so. British Gas plc divided into BG and Centrica (which owns the "British Gas" brand in the UK). BG further divided into BG Group and Transco (which subsequently merged with National Grid).
So BG is only related to "British Gas" (ie Centrica) through common ancestry.
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