Ogier’s Guernsey corporate law team is acting for IEG in their application for a licence from the Guernsey Competition and Regulatory Authority (GCRA) to enable them to generate and supply electricity in Guernsey.
On the 3rd of August, the GRCA published notice of its proposal to grant the necessary licence – it will be the first ever licence granted by GCRA to a market entrant in this field other than the incumbent, States-owned Guernsey Electricity Limited.
A period of consultation has begun and will close on 11 August. Unless GCRA directs otherwise the licence will be formally granted on 17 August.
Ogier partner advocate Bryon Rees and managing associate Advocate Andrew Munro are acting for IEG.
The licence will enable IEG to operate technology that allows generation of electricity supplied directly at the point of use (“distributed generation”). In addition to reducing traditional transmission losses of c.4-6%, on-site generation will enable the capture of heat lost in traditional power plant generation by recycling it and providing hot water, heating and cooling without the need for boilers in individual properties.
Andrew said: “It is anticipated that this technology can achieve up to 90% thermal efficiency as opposed to around 40% in traditional processes.
“The systems are ‘islanded’ and not necessarily connected to the grid (though they can be used to sell back surplus energy, provide network support or access agreed standby power to cover any outages).
“The systems are well suited for sizeable projects such as housing associations and hotel complexes or any public building of size and can be linked to other renewable sources such as solar panels to further increase efficiency and reduce a building’s carbon footprint.
“This is great news for the environment, great news for the market in Guernsey and exciting times for the energy sector. We are delighted to be working with IEG on this ground-breaking work.”
