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Heat networks

Editor's picks

Sector needs strong policy signals to reach heat pump goal
The government needs to set out a strengthened policy framework if its ambition of installing 600,000 heat pumps a year is to be achieved, industry voices have warned. Eon chief executive Michael Lewis said the target will be a “massive but necessary step” towards ending reliance on gas for heating.
News
Vattenfall forms joint heat network venture with Midlothian Council
Vattenfall and Midlothian Council have formed a 50:50 joint venture to build heat networks across the area. The first project to delivered under the partnership will be a £20 million network supplying the new town of Shawfair on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
News
Town-scale trials needed to end ‘total paralysis’ on heating
Town-scale trials are needed to end the energy industry’s “total paralysis” on the decarbonisation of heating, the founder of Greencoat Capital has argued. While conceding that the costs may run into the “hundreds of millions of pounds”, managing director Richard Nourse said the bill would be “pretty skinny” when compared to the amounts that must ultimately be spent to address the issue.
News

Featured

Project powers network plans for net zero
Energy Networks Association’s Open Networks Project, which has been engaging with industry to power towards a smarter, low-carbon energy system, has reached some key milestones, says ENA's head of innovation, Randolph Brazier
Comment
Utilities make the invisible visible
Jonathan Westley, of Experian, says utilites have the power to help reduce the number of people excluded from the financial system.
Opinion

Latest in Heat networks

Scottish heat upgrade plan labelled a ‘time bomb’
Scottish Government plans that could give the country’s homeowners and businesses two years to rip out their fossil fuel heating systems have been branded a “time bomb” by the opposition Conservatives. A consultation on a proposed Heat and Buildings Bill, outlines a swathe of tough new targets for accelerating uptake of energy efficiency and low carbon heating measures north of the border. It confirms that the use of “polluting” fossil fuel heating systems will be prohibited after 2045.
News
Heat pump grant applications soar
The number of applications made to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) has soared in the weeks after grants were increased to £7,500. An additional 1,150 new applications were received during the week commencing 23 October, three times as many as the weekly average received so far this year. Speaking to Utility Week, Heat Pump Federation director Bean Beanland said he expects the recent surge in demand to remain for the foreseeable.
News
Centrica’s Rough facility feeds gas into grid
The Rough storage facility has released stored gas into the grid for the first time this winter, to meet rising demand during colder temperatures. Operated by Centrica, Rough is the UK’s largest gas storage facility. This year, Centrica has filled Rough with the equivalent of 18 LNG tankers, double the amount stored last winter.  
News
EDF acquires heat pump installer and plots training drive
EDF has announced the acquisition of specialist heat pump installer CB Heating. It builds upon EDF’s strategic investment announced in 2022 which allowed CB Heating to train an extra 370 engineers through its Heat Pump Installers Network (HPIN) Academy.
News
Government awards £65m to green heating projects
A first of its kind project which will see waste heat from large computer data centres being used to heat more than 10,000 homes has been awarded £36 million in government support. It is one of five green heating projects awarded a share of £65 million by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero as part of the Green Heat Network Fund.
News
Heat pump funding pot tipped to be ‘blown’ before deadline
A leading advocate of heat pumps has suggested that the current funding pot which provides grants to the public “could be blown” before the end of March 2024. Bean Beanland, director for growth & external affairs at the Heat Pump Federation, told Utility Week that the combination of increased grants coupled with more competitive tariffs could see the remaining £113 million Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) budget used up before the current funding round ends.  
News
Government: No one should wait for hydrogen heating
The government has told the public not to bank on the prospect of hydrogen for home heating. While recommitting to carrying out hydrogen heating trials, the government has said that heat pumps and heat networks “will be the primary means of decarbonisation for the foreseeable future”, in its official response to the Committee on Climate Change’s annual report. The response adds that “no one should hold back on installing a heat pump or connecting to a heat network on the basis that hydrogen may become an option later”.
News
IEA: Golden age of gas is nearing an end
The “golden age of gas […] is nearing an end” and demand will begin to decline from the start of the 2030s, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has declared. A global shift to renewables and the “rise of heat pumps” will see gas use slow over the next decade before the market goes into decline in the 2030s, the IEA’s annual World Energy Outlook predicts. In another blow to global gas markets, the IEA states that the outlook for hydrogen “is clouded by cost inflation, uncertainty around policy details and supply chain bottlenecks”.
News
Call for heat pump grants to be extended to cover network costs
The government has been urged to extend grants which cover the costs of buying and installing heat pumps to fund the upfront costs associated with heat networks. Specialist polymer manufacturer REHAU has called for the remit of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) to be extended to give communities greater choice over their future heating method. Under REHAU’s proposal, BUS grants could be pooled together on a community level to set up a heat network.
News
Heat network fines must not be passed onto customers
Financial penalties and compensation paid by heat network suppliers for outages and regulatory non-compliance must not be passed on to the customers they are serving, the Heat Trust has urged. The body has also called for price protections for heat network customers, warning that without an “enduring equivalent” to the domestic energy price cap, the regulation of heat networks will be viewed as a failure in the eyes of consumers.
News
How private financing could unlock ground source heating
Heat pump manufacturer Kensa is using private financing to remove one of the biggest barriers to ground source heating, but schemes will only be viable if the government takes a street-by-street approach to retrofit. Lucinda Dann finds out more.
Analysis
Has Sunak set a net-zero trap for Starmer?
Rishi Sunak’s about-turn on key green policies has opened up a clear divide between Conservatives and Labour on one of the key issues of our time. Utility Week policy correspondent David Blackman asks a host of policy experts how they see the prime minister’s stance going down with voters and how the opposition is likely to respond.
Analysis
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