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utILIty WeeK | 6th - 12th February 2015 | 9 Interview A s revolutions go, the rise and rise of decentralised energy has until now been rather a quiet one. Without the drama and fanfare of a multi-gigawatt new-build project, it's easy to miss. But slowly and stead- ily, decentralised solutions are changing the face of the UK's energy system. And increasingly, the wider sector is beginning to take note. The man at the centre of the sector's gradual para- digm shi embodies many of the traits evident in the sec- tor itself. Tim Rotheray, director of the newly relaunched Association for Decentralised Energy, is equal parts clear-eyed pragmatist and contagious enthusiast. He tells Utility Week how the decentralised model of energy use is turning long-held assumptions on their head, and why challenges remain for this potentially game- changing sector. It's a few days since policy makers, investors and developers stood shoulder to shoulder in the House of Commons on an icy January evening to welcome Rotheray's relaunch of the Association for Decentralised Energy (known previously as the Combined Heat and Power Association). And Rotheray has barely had a moment to reflect. "I felt there was a real buzz of excitement and positivity," he says of the well-attended event. The renaming of the trade body was a project already under discussion with the association's members before Rotheray came to the post 18 months ago, in order to bet- ter reflect the concerns of its broad church of members. Put simply, decentralised energy includes any genera- tion that takes place near the point of use – in contrast to the status quo that requires end-users to rely on the national grid for power. It also spans technology options including combined heat and power (CHP), district heat- ing and cooling and demand-side energy services. Following a unanimously supportive vote from the board, and alongside the ADE's benchmark report for the decentralised energy space, the relaunch was in some ways a culmination of the work in establishing the changing needs of the sector. In other ways, it's really only the beginning, Rotheray explains. "Our members say 'we need you to represent us, and the market that we're in'. And the market has evolved. So we need to evolve," he says. "That's what the other night was about; as I said in my speech, the new paradigm is about the user. It's about a local, decentralised, user- oriented system." The ADE's Invisible Energy report went a step further to lend form to an otherwise unseen element of the UK's energy space. In it, the association shows the collective value of local energy solutions at £37 billion in avoided business energy costs every single year since 1980. Annual gas imports would have been three times what they are today and the UK would have needed to build 14 additional large power stations to keep the lights on. For those looking, the power system is already show- ing the signs of this invisible energy. Year on year, energy efficiency solutions have eroded the UK's overall power demand. In summer, the UK's 5GW of embedded solar capacity has pulled grid demand levels to historic lows. As Rotheray notes, for technologies that can be meas- ured against the increase in sunshine and fall in demand, the effect can be calibrated. But for other solutions, the