Green heat fund aims to streamline path for district heating networks

The Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF) has developed an updated set of draft sales, operations and maintenance set of contracts free for use by anyone developing a district heating scheme.

The documents are designed to reduce transaction costs for project developers and help to raise standards across the industry. 

Creating district heating networks

The Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF) aims to provide the foundations to catalyse “a self-sustaining” district heating industry across England and Wales. As part of this, it wants to make it as simple as possible for its funded projects to engage with the supply chain, procure contracts, and drive down costs.  

The contracts include a new recovered heat off-take and access contract template. It marks the first time a recovered heat off-take and access agreement has been created for the UK market and published for use free of charge. 

“We’ve already funded several projects that will take heat from data centres, energy-from-waste plants, and other industrial sources, and we see that trend accelerating”

Recovering the heat that’s available from industrial and other processes is a key challenge for the district heating sector. In the UK, while there are a few examples of heat networks that harness this “recovered” heat, the potential “is vast”, said GHNF in a statement.  

Potential heat sources exist wherever there’s a process that generates heat. GHNF said it sees tapping into these heat sources as a great way to help decarbonise both heat supply and the wider economy: “We’ve already funded several projects that will take heat from data centres, energy-from-waste plants, and other industrial sources, and we see that trend accelerating in the coming years.”