An investment of £40 million has been announced for seven district heating network projects, which will give thousands of homes access to low carbon heating.
The heat networks, which provides heating in place of a traditional gas boiler, will be developed in Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool and London.
The winners of the government’s Heat Networks Investment Project are Barking and Dagenham Council, Bristol City Council, Leeds City Council, Energetik, Veolia and Peel Energy.
Under the schemes, around 30,000 more homes will have access to clean heating, helping reduce around 154,300 tonnes of carbon over the next 15 years. That’s equivalent to planting around 400,000 trees.
Less than 5% of energy used for heating homes and buildings currently come from low carbon sources.
The funding is part of the government’s Heat Networks Investment Project and supports the governments net zero carbon goal by 2050.
Business and Energy Secretary Andrea Leadsom said: “Heat networks will be a crucial part of our commitment to eliminate the UK’s contribution to climate change by 2050. I’m delighted we’re funding more heat networks all over the country and ensuring better consumer protections for those who use them.”
The government has also proposed new protections for households on heat networks to ensure they are paying a fair price for their heating and getting a good service.
It has launched a consultation on plans to establish Ofgem as the heat network regulator, require heat networks to report on price and quality of service standards as well as ensure all heat networks become low carbon by 2030.
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is seeking views on the policy options for the development of a regulatory framework for heat networks until 1st May 2020.
