The government’s ‘water source heat map’ has identified more than 4,000 rivers, estuaries, canals and coastal sites which could provide low-carbon heat to communities via a water source heat pump.
Water source heat pumps take heat from the water and feed it into local heat networks or single buildings, providing a low-carbon source of renewable heat to local areas.
To boost the use of this technology the government has produced an interactive map to provide developers and homeowners with information including details of water conditions, such as temperature and flow rates, the potential heat capacity of each waterway and the levels of heat demand across England.
At Battersea power station in London on Wednesday energy secretary Ed Davey stressed the importance of “making the most of the vast amount of clean, renewable heat that lays dormant and unused in our rivers, lakes and seas”.
He said: “Doing this will help contribute to an energy mix that maximises clean, reliable home-grown resources rather than relying on foreign fossil fuels. It also provides a system that bolsters growth in our local economies, protects the natural environment, and creates resilient communities that are capable of producing sustainable power systems.”
Battersea is the latest developer to announce that it will look into installing a water source heat pump, and SSE has been appointed to carry out a full feasibility study.
If a heat pump is installed at the site, it would be one of the energy sources used to provide heat to around 4000 new homes, shops, offices and public amenities being provided at the power plant.
Last year, the National Trust began heating its Plas Newydd mansion in North Wales using Britain’s largest marine source heat pump.