In broad terms, the work of the CHPA sits within four areas of activity:
- Advocacy: the CHPA is at the forefront of influencing; energy, planning and procurement policy
- Raising awareness: building understanding through communications, events, training and the production of relevant policy and market research
- Promoting best practice and collaboration: working with our members and a wide range of relevant stakeholders to help drive improvement and innovation across the sector
- Enhancing and maintaining the reputation of the sector: through advocacy, promotion and adoption of best practice
More specifically, the CHPA undertakes the following tasks on behalf of its members:
- Influencing policy and regulatory outcomes at a national, regional and local level (and in a European context via COGEN Europe and Euro Heat and Power). The Association’s work has helped to place heat at the top of the political agenda and served to gain recognition for CHP and district heating within a wide range of incentive programmes and regulatory frameworks. See policy and regulation for more detail.
- Raising awareness and understanding of CHP, district heating, energy management services and community energy. This is achieved through stakeholder engagement, communications, events, training workshops and other activity. This broad range of activity helps raise awareness amongst potential customers of CHP and district heating, whilst also building capacity amongst key enablers such as local authority planners and facility managers.
- Informing, advising and engaging members on a range of policy and industry developments. This includes regular forum meetings across a number of areas, addressing the issues that matter. In these forums, members are briefed and discuss developments of relevance and where appropriate, collectively agree a common stance for the sector. Members are also provided with a monitoring and information provision service. The Association’s annual conference and the CHPA Awards programme also bring the sector together.
- Initiating and facilitating collective cross-sector collaboration and accreditation by acting as a hub for discussion and action amongst members, other industry players and potential customers and by ensuring that best practice standards are adopted and advanced.
- Providing specific tailored policy and background guidance to members and interested third parties. The CHPA provides research support to help its members identify, influence and prepare for changes in the policy environment. It also deals with specific requests from members on a one-to-one basis on market, policy and regulatory issues.
- Providing a monitoring and information provision service to our members. Helping ensure they are abreast of policy, regulator and market developments.
- Encouraging inward investment to facilitate key areas of market development of benefit to the whole sector. The Association works particularly closely with international partners working to help the UK emulates the rates of take-up of CHP and district heating that have occurred overseas.
- Undertaking sector research, for the benefit of our members, Government or other relevant stakeholders such as consumers.
-