A new report sponsored by Scottish and Southern Electricity (SSE) has highlighted the potential of heat networks to decarbonise UK cities.
The report, which was authored by Centre for Cities, explores how UK cities can learn lessons from other global urban centres in an effort to speed decarbonisation, with a focus on the way in which heat networks can enable lower-carbon home heating.
According to SSE, heat networks are a “way of providing local, low carbon heat, from waste and recoverable sources to customers in dense towns and cities.” Data centres, which use a significant amount of heat-generating computer equipment, are often highlighted as an ideal location for heat recovery; earlier this year a Manchester data centre currently in development has announced that it will deliver waste heat from equipment to local projects.
The Centre for Cities report notes that the higher population density of large cities ideally supports energy infrastructure like heat networks, putting cities at a significant advantage when trying to decarbonise.
UK government analysis has shown that heat networks could provide 16-20% of total heat demand by 2050, with much of this future demand being met by large towns and cities. However, the report notes that while cities around the world have proven the success potential of heat networks, the current cost of developing new infrastructure and needing to compete with existing gas heating suppliers is currently holding back development in the UK.
In order to make best use of the potential for heat networks in the UK, the report recommends that heat network development be considered at the forefront of future planning and development policy.
UK heat networks: the future of warm homes?
In recent months and years, interest in developing heat networks have been growing. Research by the Association for Decentralised Energy (ADE) called developing a heat network key to solving underinvestment in Greater Manchester, predicting that the region could unlock £18.2 billion of new investment through a transition to heat networks.
Meanwhile, Leeds Pipes, a heat network jointly developed by Leeds City Council, Vital Energi and Ener-Vate, has been the subject of international attention. The network, which uses recovered heat from a recycling and energy recovery facility and then supplies it to hospitals, universities, and the Leeds Playhouse, was visited as part of a research trip from the Canadian-based Boltzmann Institute in the hope that Canada can learn lessons from the project.
