Government allocates £91m across seven heat network projects

One project includes the UK’s first system drawing heat from deep underground to provide low-cost heating for nearly 4,000 homes.

The Langarth Deep Geothermal Heat Network will involve drilling to a depth of 5,275 metres to extract the heat from granite rocks beneath the United Downs Industrial Estate in Cornwall. 

Heat networks take heat found underground or use excess heat generated through manufacturing or waste management, and supply heating and hot water to homes and businesses through a connected network.  

This allows them to avoid fossil-fuel burning gas and oil boilers.

The funded projects include: 

• Bradford Energy will receive £20m to build an air source heat pump heat network, to supply businesses and other buildings in the city centre. 

• Cornwall Council will receive £22m to develop the Langarth Deep Geothermal Heat Network – the first of its kind in the UK that will use geothermal energy from hot granite rocks beneath Cornwall to heat 3,800 local homes and public facilities in the region.

• East Riding of Yorkshire Council will receive £12m to create the new Goole District Energy Network, that will use waste heat from a manufacturing plant to power local homes and businesses.

• Rotherham Energy will receive £25m to build a new Rotherham Energy Network to deliver heating and hot water to 34 homes and businesses in the town centre.

• Kirklees Council will receive £8.2m to create the Huddersfield District Energy Network, that will provide low-carbon heat and electricity to public and private sector buildings in and around the centre of the town.

• East London Energy will receive £1.76m to expand the heat network to supply more homes in and around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford.

• The University of Reading will receive £2.1m to help decarbonise its Whiteknights Campus, currently powered by a combined heat and power-led district heating network.

Lord Callanan, minister for energy efficiency and green finance, said the UK “must continue to push the boundaries to reach our net zero goal”. 

“These innovative projects will not only benefit the communities they serve, by reducing emissions and providing low-cost heating that helps to drive down energy bills, but also support the nation’s push for greater energy security and independence. 

“They form part of our energy revolution – creating hundreds of new jobs for our ever-expanding green economy,” he said.