A project in Hull is the first in the UK to share in £30 million of funding designed to benefit homes and businesses by delivering low carbon heat as part of the government’s push to cut emissions.
Them money is coming from the Green Heat Network Fund, a £288 million government funding scheme launched in March this year.
Hull will get almost £13m towards a heat network that will reduce carbon emissions by more than 2,000 tonnes per year, delivering an additional 22GWH of electricity to 46 public and private sector customers.
The GHNF funding will pave the way for low carbon technologies – like heat pumps, solar and geothermal energy – to be delivered at scale and established as a central heating source. The scheme is expected to reduce emissions equivalent to taking 5.6 million cars off the road for a year.
Heat networks offer carbon emissions savings by supplying heat to buildings from a central source, avoiding the need for households and workplaces to rely on individual, energy-intensive heating solutions – such as gas boilers. As such, heat networks provide a significant contribution to the UK’s carbon reduction commitment.
Energy Minister Lord Callanan said:” It’s vital that we invest in cutting edge technologies, like heat networks, that move us away from heating our homes and businesses with carbon-emitting fossil fuels.
“Through the Green Heat Network Fund, ground-breaking projects will be developed at pace to the benefit of communities, moving us away from soaring energy bills and delivering cheaper, greener energy.”
At present, there are over 14,000 heat networks in the UK, providing heating and hot water to around 480,000 consumers.
