Fund further boosts low- and zero-carbon heat networks

Low-carbon district heating schemes in London, Bristol, Rochdale, and Atherstone have been awarded a share of more than £25m from the UK Government’s

 Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF).

The funding will go towards supplying low carbon heat to more than 3,500 homes. Additionally, the heat networks supported will decarbonise older listed buildings, local art galleries, museums, supermarkets, hospitals, and more across England.

Green capital grant fund

The Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF) is a multi-year, capital grant fund that opened to applicants in March 2022, with funding allocated up to 2029-30. It focuses on the commercialisation and construction of new low- and zero-carbon (LZC) heat networks and the retrofitting and expansion of existing heat networks. The fund is continuing to play a key part in the UK Government’s Warm Homes Plan.

“What strikes me about today’s announcement is the sheer variety,” said Ken Hunnisett, head of clean heat at Triple Point, the delivery partner for the fund. “Waste heat from black bin reprocessing in Atherstone, sewer heat in Rochdale, expanded city-wide networks in Bristol and King’s Cross, collectively serving hospitals, listed buildings, art galleries, supermarkets, and over 3,500 homes.

“That breadth is exactly what the Warm Homes Plan needs: not a single silver bullet, but proven big infrastructure working across entire communities, delivering benefits to the people who live and work in the vicinity of each and lowering the cost of our transition away from a gas economy. The GHNF is enabling all of that and more, place by place and project by project.”

Bristol Temple Quarter (£13.5m construction funding)

Vattenfall, as part of Bristol City Leap, has been awarded £13.5m to construct the Temple Quarter heat network project. The project will bring together the existing Temple, Old Market and Redcliffe heat networks into one connected system.

The integrated network will make full use of the existing low-carbon water source heat pump at Castle Park and prepare for a future connection to the Bath Road Energy Centre once developed, supporting long term expansion.

There are currently 35 buildings connected to the Bristol heat network, and these are supplied with enough heat for the equivalent of almost 13,500 homes. New connections are underway, with up to four planned within the next year.

The project also includes the development of a Semi-Permanent Energy Centre (SPEC): an air source heat pump system designed as a “plug‑in” solution. This will initially provide heating to the University of Bristol’s Temple Quarter Enterprise Centre Academic Building, which is already connected to the heat network.

Once the Bath Road Energy Centre is operational, the SPEC can be moved and reused elsewhere, offering a flexible way to deliver low carbon heat where it is most needed. 

It has been estimated that Bristol City Leap will deliver a minimum of £61.5m in social value to the city over the next five years, including over 1,000 new jobs, apprenticeships and work placements, including a new Community Energy Fund worth £1.5m. So far, the partnership is on track to meet this with a total spend of £36m.

King’s Cross (£8.6m construction funding)

The King’s Cross Group has secured £8.6 million in construction funding from the GHNF to support the next phase of the King’s Cross Heating & Cooling Network. The funding will help decarbonise the established heat network, serving one of the UK’s most established mixed-use neighbourhoods.