More than 10,000 residents, alongside hospitals and charities, will benefit from lower bills thanks to upgrades to old and inefficient heat networks.

Backed by £15.6 million, 94 heat networks across England and Wales will see a host of improvements to make them more energy efficient and help lower bills.

Improvements will include replacing leaky pipes, insulating pipework to reduce heat loss and replacing interface units in homes so residents have better control of their heating.

Four heat network projects across England will also receive a share of £25 million to provide clean, affordable and reliable power.

In Bristol, £13.5 million will be used to expand the Bristol City Leap heat network, which will use heat pumps to deliver fossil fuel free heating to more homes and businesses, and will lead to the creation of more than 1,000 jobs, apprenticeships and work placements.

In Rochdale, £1 million will go towards building a heat network which takes heat from a sewer going through the town to provide low carbon heat to public buildings such as colleges and schools, Rochdale Infirmary, businesses and residential buildings, including social housing.

Minister for Energy Consumers Martin McCluskey said:

The conflict in the Middle East has shown once again why we must get off the fossil fuel rollercoaster and onto clean, homegrown power we control.

Heat networks will play a crucial role in that shift, lowering bills for whole communities while strengthening our energy security.

That’s why we’re upgrading old and inefficient systems and investing in modern, low-cost networks fit for the future.

The funding announced today (20 May) is part of the government’s mission to upgrade the nation’s homes through the Warm Homes Plan, helping families to cut energy bills and tackle fuel poverty.

It follows the government’s commitment in January to allocate £195 million a year for the Green Heat Network Fund and £15 million a year for the Heat Network Efficiency Scheme to 2029/30 in the Warm Homes Plan.

Heat networks are a way of heating multiple buildings from a central heating source – such as taking excess heat generated from a data centre or factory.

These systems provide communities with low-cost and efficient heat and will play a key role in the government’s mission to achieve clean power by 2030.

To ensure homes and businesses continue to receive a good quality service, government has committed funding to improve underperforming heat networks.

The latest round of funding through the Heat Network Efficiency Scheme will upgrade 94 of these systems across England and Wales, including:

• £1.2 million to improve the older heating system of three 1960s high rise blocks in Salford
• £2.1 million to upgrade five heat networks in Solihull, serving 484 residents
• £2.1 million for efficiency upgrades on two heat networks in Camden, London, improving the service for 358 residents

Meanwhile, the Green Heat Network Fund will help the development of the following schemes:

• £8.6 million to support the next phase of the King’s Cross Heating and Cooling Network in London, which serves more than 1,700 homes and 44 buildings using heat pumps
• £2.2 million to build a heat network in Atherstone, Warwickshire, taking waste heat from the Baddesley Energy from Waste facility to supply low-carbon heating to 1,700 homes

Chris Unsworth, Head of ADE: Heat Networks, said:

Low-carbon heat networks work, they work for hospitals, they work for charities and they will work for over 10,000 residents who will now see lower bills. This funding will reach the strongest anchors in our communities – the places that can’t afford to be left behind. We now need to go further to fix every legacy heat network, connect every public institution that could benefit and unlock the full potential of heat networks.

SOURCE: GOV