MCS And The Future Of Sustainable Installations

By John Ross, Sustainability & Renewable Research  Lecturer at South Eastern Regional College

Just in case you’ve been away and missed it, MCS is here!  Relax – it’s not another “X Factor” malfunction; it’s the future  of quality led, renewable technology installations.

The MCS (Microgeneration  Certification Scheme) is a revised  new standard for the industry, in  many ways setting out prescribed  ways to install renewable  technologies to the highest  standards. It puts a huge onus on  any individual, or company,  involved in terms of costs and  compliance – some would  probably say unreasonably so.  The scope of this scheme covers  the requirements for companies  undertaking the supply, design,  installation, of the following  Microgeneration technologies:

• Solar domestic hot water

• Solar PV

• Micro Wind

• Micro Hydro

• Biomass

• Heat Pumps

• Micro CHP

• Renewable CHP

• Fuel cells

The specific technology to be  installed in a building must be  supplied and installed by a  Certificated Installer, certificated  for that technology through the  government’s Microgeneration  Certification Scheme (MCS).  In line with achieving good value  for money, MCS recommends to  customers that they should make  sure to obtain at least two quotes  from different installers for each  technology they are intending to  install.

The MCS scheme demonstrates  a commitment for those involved  to meet rigorous and tested  standards. The MCS is supposed  to be seen as a mark of  competency, and demonstrate to  customers that installations are of  the highest quality.  Installer certification assesses the  supply, design, installation, setto-  work and commissioning of  renewable microgeneration  technologies. The MCS is  basically a quality assurance  scheme, demonstrating the  quality and reliability of approved  products by satisfying rigorous  and tested standards, and was  designed with input from the  industry.

All relevant products  used are certified, involving type  testing of products and an  assessment of the manufacturing  processes, materials, procedures  and staff training.  The Government defines  microgeneration as the smallscale  production of heat and/or  electricity from a low carbon  source. The various technologies  have the potential to tackle  climate change; safeguarding  reliable energy and tackling  where appropriate fuel poverty. All  the certificated contractors in the  scheme should have the  capability to undertake the supply,  design, installation, set-to-work,  commissioning and handover of  microgeneration systems.  Any contractors not engaged in  the design or supply of  microgeneration systems,  working solely as an installer for a  client, should be competent to  review and verify that any  proposed system meets the  design requirements in the  standard.

Contractors should operate a  satisfactory quality management  system (auditable to more or less  ISO 9000) which meets the  additional requirements set out in  the scheme. This should ensure  they are working to the most  recent documents and have  systems in place to identify all  applicable regulations and update  changes in them. This will include  working practices, compliance  with all relevant health and safety  regulations and where required a  risk assessment shall be  conducted before any work on  site is commenced.  Any sub-contracting must be  managed through a formal  subcontract agreement between  the two parties (and any  additional parties).  These procedures should ensure  that the subcontractor undertakes  any work strictly in accordance  with the MCS standards.

The contractor has obligations to  include recorded evidence of  skills and training of those  employed and that they are made  available to ensure competence  requirements of MCS standards  are met. The contractor’s  obligation also places an onus on  them to assess a sample number  of installations under the contract.  The contractor assumes  responsibility at handover that the  installation is in full compliance  with the MCS standards.

Some of the audit requirements for  a new company will be their MCS  quality system documentation  (mandatory element) which is  firstly reviewed off-site, then in  their offices. Sampling will also  take place on internal review  records, training records,  subcontract arrangements,  equipment calibration, complaint  records, non-conformances,  product records, in addition to  customer files.

The surveillance  visits will consist of a technical  inspection of an installation  completed in the last year chosen  at random from installations  registered on the MCS Database.  The administration costs are the  main area of contention for all the  businesses involved in the  scheme so far. For example, a  local company registered to install  three technologies, is paying in  excess of £2,000 in  administration costs before they  start a project. These costs – in  light of the poor economic  situation and the high cost for  installing the technologies – don’t  help in any sense of the matter.

The obvious conclusion is that the  costs will be passed onto the  customer, which isn’t going to  help anyone.  The Northern Ireland fees at this  point in time are considerably  more than those in the rest of the  UK. The local costs are below.  The costs vary according to the  number of technologies e.g.  £1,405 plus VAT for one  technology and £1,080 plus VAT  for each annual renewal.  The participating companies to a  degree have bet on the  Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI)  happening – everyone is waiting  for the announcement (hopefully)  from Stormont within the next few  weeks. If the RHI doesn’t come  about, then a lot of companies will  have spent funds on MCS  approval for basically little to no  return.

The expected funding is  necessary to drive the growth in  CO2 reductions through  installations of low carbon,  renewable technologies with  lucrative incentives to customers.  The only way to access these will  be by being an MCS installer or  company installing an approved  product.  The industry in general is  concerned deeply by the  associated costs and several  have gone to press re the same:  David Matthews, Chief Executive  of the Ground Source Heat  Pumps Association (GSHPA)  said: “The expense and  complexity of the Microgeneration  Certification Scheme is excessive  and is suppressing demand. It’s  more costly to comply with this  scheme than to comply with the  established heating certification  schemes, and this really is  obstructing the development of  the microgeneration market, in  favour of traditional high carbon  technologies.  “The GSHPA will continue to work  hard at persuading the  government to improve the  application of the MCS scheme  and develop more suitable  certification methods for its  members.  “The GSHPA is also in detailed  discussion with the scheme  providers and is working to  resolve detailed certification  issues that are relevant to ground  source heat pumps.”  Andrew Cooper, head of on-site  renewables at the REA, said: “We  have an issue over the LCBP and  we also have issues over the  support that Government gives to  business. Having a rigorous  certification scheme in place just  adds to installers costs.  “The Government must address  the drivers to encourage a mass  microgeneration market and then  those costs can be more easily  absorbed by the sector.”  Besides the costs there are many  other new elements that firms  must put in place, if not already  doing so:  The companies may be expected  to bear the costs of investigating  complaints and additional  surveillance visits (inspections).

Appliance Sizing: The procedure  for the correct sizing/selection of  renewable technologies and  related components for each  installation must be completed  using recognised software  packages – CIBSE, CEN Solar  Keymark Scheme, DHDG, SAP  2009, IES, PHPP etc.  Heat loss calculations: should be  performed on a building using a  method in line with BS EN 12831,  using the local annual average  external air temperature. In most  cases, selected to provide at least  100% of the calculated design  space heating power requirement  at the selected internal and  external temperatures.

Domestic hot water services  design should be based on an  accurate assessment of the  number and types of points of use  and anticipated consumption  within the property, found in –  BS 6700: “Specification for  design, installation, testing and  maintenance of services  supplying water for domestic use  within buildings and their  curtilages”;  EN 806: “Specifications for  installations inside buildings  conveying water for human  consumption” to prevent bacterial  growth (including Legionella  bacteria).  The contractor should/must  communicate and explain to the  customer the implications of the  space heating and domestic hot  water system design on the costs  associated with providing space  heating and domestic hot water to  the building.  The contractor also needs to  predict costs associated with the  operation of collectors (PV, Solar,  ground collectors for heat pumps  etc) emitter costs, circulation  pumps, all per annum and the  heat losses associated with  storage vessels.  The electricity costs associated  with domestic hot water that may  have been produced with an  immersion element or  supplementary electric heater.  The ancillary costs for other  systems in operational or  replacement terms. This would  include batteries, meters,  inverters, pumps etc.

The Heat Emitter Guide: A tool to  aid installers and customers in  understanding the relevance of  building heat loss,  heat emitter  selection and heat  emitter temperature  on heat pump  performance.  The Heat Emitter  Guide also reflects  potential heat loss  power per square  metre (in W/m2)  used.  The contractor/  installer, before the  point at which the  contract for the works is entered  into with the customer, shall, in  writing:  Make the customer aware of all  specific room heat losses (in  W/m2);  The total heating energy  consumption over a year (in kWh)  for space heating and domestic  hot water shall be estimated using  a suitable method. This should be  communicated in writing to the  client at or before the point at  which the contract is awarded.  The calculation should include  appropriate consideration of  internal heat gains, heat gains  from solar insolation, local  external air temperature and the  heating pattern used in the  building (e.g. continuous, bimodal,  with an Economy 7 tariff or  otherwise).  Testing procedures.  The installer shall provide the  customer with a comprehensive  document pack.  Complete records of training and  competence skills of personnel  shall be maintained by the  certificated contractor, in  particular design staff, carrying  out full conceptual design, should  be able to demonstrate a  thorough knowledge of the  technologies involved and the  interaction of associated  technologies.  A signed certificate by the  contractor confirming that the  Microgeneration system meets  the MCS standard requirements.  The maintenance requirements  and maintenance services  available;  List of the key components  installed.  This list is only an overview of  the many elements involved in  compliance with the new MCS  systems standards.  This is a major shift for many  involved in the industry and will  certainly sort out the ‘wheat from  the chaff’. I don’t see many local  companies being drawn into this  scheme due to costs and the  additional time and effort  required.