Projects in Hull and Peterborough are the first to secure awards through the Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF), a £288 million government scheme launched in March this year.
The Peterborough Integrated Renewables Infrastructure project will receive more than £14.4 million through the GHNF to develop a network which will transport heat and electrical power from the energy from waste (EfW) plant operated by Viridor in the Fengate area to businesses and public buildings.
In Hull, nearly £13 million has been awarded to go toward a network that will transfer heat from an unnamed plant to city centre buildings.
Energy minister Lord Callanan said: “It’s vital that we invest in cutting edge technologies, like heat networks, that move us away from heating our homes and businesses with carbon-emitting fossil fuels.
“I’m delighted to see that, through the Green Heat Network Fund, ground-breaking projects will be developed at pace to the benefit of communities, moving us away from soaring energy bills and delivering cheaper, greener energy.”
The GHNF opened in March to public, private and third sector applicants in England and is anticipated to run to 2025.
BEIS says the government intends to appoint Ofgem as Britain’s heat networks regulator to ensure consumers receive a fair price and reliable supply of heat.
Peterborough
The £75 million Peterborough EfW facility at Fengate was officially opened in March 2016 (see letsrecycle.com story). It is capable of treating 85,000 tonnes of residual waste a year to generate 7.25MW of energy, sufficient to power 15,000 households.
This is an innovative project which could deliver huge carbon savings– Elliot Smith, commercial manager at Peterborough city council
The facility was developed and is operated by Viridor as part of a 30-year public-private partnership deal to treat Peterborough city council’s residual waste, signed in February 2013.
Of the £14.4 million awarded by BEIS, just more than £900,000 will pay for further project work to prove the effectiveness of the scheme to secure “inward investment”, the council says. The remaining £13.5 million will help pay for the construction costs.
The council anticipates that that the total construction costs for the project will be around £53 million, with the remaining money expected to come from inward investment.
Elliot Smith, commercial manager at Peterborough city council, said: “This is an innovative project which could deliver huge carbon savings, helping Peterborough to become a carbon-zero city.
“There’s still a long way to go until its completion, but the concept has been proven as effective and it takes only a little imagination to see that in the future it could be scaled up to provide heat to many more businesses, public buildings and homes across the entire city.”
Hull
Hull city council says its district heat network will use EfW to heat water before transporting it through heat exchangers to connected buildings.
The network will consist of a centralised energy source alongside as a back-up energy centre. The council expects works to commence on the project in 2024.
Cllr Julia Conner, portfolio holder for environment and climate change lead at Hull city council, said: “I’m pleased that the government has agreed to back this ambitious project that will deliver cleaner, cheaper energy to those living and working in Hull city centre. It’s a significant step towards the council achieving its carbon neutral ambition.”
The council plans to hold public engagement events on the heat network “in the near future” to gather the views of local people and businesses, as well as raise awareness of the project.
Wigan
Meanwhile, BEIS also announced that Wigan council has secured more than £2.6 million as one of the final awards from the £320 million Heat Networks Investment Project, which was succeeded by the GHNF this year after running since 2018.
BEIS says Wigan will use the funding to develop a ground source heat pump system, which will provide heating and hot water to a new £190 million redevelopment project in the town centre.
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