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London Mayor to unveil Enfield district heating

By Tom Goulding

An ambitious project to provide a district heating scheme in Lee Valley is to be launched by Enfield council and the Mayor of London at City Hall today (July 21).

Under the proposals, the Lee Valley Heat Network will see hot water piped from the North London Waste Authoritys Edmonton energy-from-waste facility to Enfield councils new 1.5 billion housing development.

The Edmonton EcoPark EfW will supply heat to 5,000 Lee Valley homes
The Edmonton EcoPark EfW will supply heat to 5,000 Lee Valley homes

The CHP-enabled Edmonton EcoPark has the capacity to supply low carbon heat to 5,000 homes at Meridian Water and businesses in the Lee Valley area. A further 1,800 homes on the Ladderswood, Alma and New Avenue estates could also benefit.

Enfield council is to create a company in order to manage the district heating system, which is scheduled to be announced later this week.

The local authority is yet to verify the costs of the project, but aims for the first phase of heating to be rolled out in the Ladderswood estate in 2015.

South London

The project is said to be about three times the size of the current district heating scheme in South East London run by Veolia. This was officially launched in November 2013 and provides excess heat and hot water to 2,500 homes across five council estates in Bermondsey and Southwark (see letsrecycle.com story).

Plans for the North London scheme were first alluded to at a meeting of the London Assembly Environment Committee in November last year, which included Ian Davis, director of environment for the London borough of Enfield (see letsrecycle.com story).

‘For the first time, we will be providing our communities with low carbon energy from local heat sources, while creating hundreds of jobs in the process. This will revolutionise the way we heat our homes and provide energy to business.’

– Cllr Alan Sitkin, Enfield cabinet member for economic development

It was revealed following North London Waste Authoritys decision to scrap the procurement process for two major waste contracts at the plant in the previous September, including a proposed fuel use agreement to burn 250,000-300,000 tonnes-a-year of SRF produced from residual waste in the region.

Enfield councils cabinet member for economic development, councillor Alan Sitkin, said: This is a hugely ambitious scheme which could provide heating to over 6,000 homes and businesses across the Lee Valley in its first phase.

For the first time, we will be providing our communities with low carbon energy from local heat sources, while creating hundreds of jobs in the process. This will revolutionise the way we heat our homes and provide energy to business.

Regeneration

Matthew Pencharz, the Mayor of Londons energy and environment advisor, added: These important energy plans are part of major regeneration work set to transform the Lee Valley area.

“We need to do everything possible to create a more secure, cost-effective and sustainable heat and power supply across London. We know that supporting schemes like this using locally sourced energy can reduce bills, increase our energy security, lower carbon emissions and create jobs.

“The Mayor will continue to work closely with Enfield to push forward the infrastructure needed to regenerate the Lee Valley.

The Enfield scheme will also complement a significant investment in transport infrastructure in the area, with Network Rail and the Greater London Authority providing a 80 million three-tracking railway in the area from 2017, and 30 million to improve cycling facilities.

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