UK Heat Networks To Undergo Major Expansion

Local councils across England and Wales have started looking into establishing heat networks in their regions, where heat is transported from a single source through pipes in order to provide heat to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses.

Figures obtained by the Daily Telegraph show that over a third of local authorities in England and Wales are now working on heat network schemes. This form of district heating, as it’s also known, is hugely popular in Scandinavia since entire neighbourhoods can be heated efficiently in this way. Insulated pipes are used to transport steam or hot water to properties, which then heats up the mains water supply via a heat exchanger.

A heat network delivery unit was set up a few years ago to provide funding for such initiatives, with the government hoping that more networks will be supported to use heat produced as a by-product from renewable sources or industrial processes.

“We need to embrace leading technologies and the government is helping councils improve energy infrastructure, cut carbon and keep people’s bills down,” business and energy secretary Greg Clark said.

District heating has long been the way forward for the likes of Denmark, which was hit hard by the oil crisis back in 1973 when the price per oil barrel climbed dramatically. Denmark had been particularly reliant on oil, so it decided to wean itself off such imports to support its own energy security. Since then, local neighbourhoods have got rid of individual boilers and now hot water is piped into homes directly from a single more efficient shared boiler.

What’s more, Denmark can now expect to carry on being a net exporter of oil until the end of 2018, according to figures from the Danish Energy Agency.

To find out more about heating services in Cumbria, come and see us at Greenfields Penrith today.