Speaking in a panel discussion at Utility Week Congress in Birmingham yesterday, ETI director of strategy development Jo Coleman warned that the UK will not meet its 2050 decarbonisation targets without doing something about heat in homes.
“There are potentially going to be new networks,” she said. “We spend a lot of time analysing transition pathways and how we get towards low-carbon, and it’s very clear that heat plays a very significant role in that.”
She pointed out that about 20 per cent of emissions come from the way heat is used in homes, with 3.5 million tonnes of CO2 leaving each UK household over the course of a year.
“That is a massive challenge, and I’m not trying to suggest here that the gas industry is going away and we’re not going to have gas distribution networks,” she added. “Things like heat pumps are going to have a significant impact on both electricity operators and also potentially the gas distribution system.”
Coleman warned that incumbent energy networks must now move from being “simply about gas and electricity and water which don’t interact much”, to working and engaging with new entrants, such as district heat networks.
In August, the Energy and Utilities Alliance called for a new UK heat policy looking at decarbonising the gas grid so as to cost-effectively meet carbon reduction targets.
The UK has a goal for 12 per cent of its heat to come from low-carbon or renewable sources by 2020.
Yesterday, Utility Week’s sister title edie reported that the UK is in danger of missing its legally-binding targets.