Nearly half of all energy consumed in the UK is for heat and hot water generation. For the UK to work towards its carbon targets and meet the obligations of the Paris Agreement, the nation will need to really focus on dramatically reducing the carbon intensity of this core energy sector.

A significant amount of heat is wasted during processing activities as experienced in other industries. As a result, the national energy and heat policy focus specifically on capturing more heat and distributing this to customers, improving efficiency levels, reducing carbon emissions and lowering the energy required for the entire heating process.

If managed effectively, a heat network can be used for heating and cooling processes and can utilize localized sources, reducing the expense associated with heat transportation. Whilst the UK has made positive progress in decarbonizing the electricity market, the heating industry hasn’t experienced a similar level of improvement.

Dr. Eoghan Maguire, the head of business development at Vattenfall Heat UK explains that the government is gradually beginning to focus more on the heating challenge, transport and the integration of heating systems. Vattenfall Heat consists of over 2 million European customers and is working to recreate the heat and energy system in Amsterdam into a smart grid. The business is applying its industry knowledge in the UK, with the formation of Vattenfall Heat UK earlier this year.

The UK Government is now showing bolder signs of support towards improving the heating market with the launch of a £320 million project to enhance the development of heat networks. The Heat Network Investment Project is also providing heat network developers with grants and loans.

For many developers and engineers, the challenge of achieving carbon reduction targets set for 2050 is more realistic when considering and focusing additional plans on district heating networks. This is shown clearly in Berlin, where nearly 30% of all heating and hot water requirements is managed by a district heating network, operated by Vattenfall. The specialist UK district heating team at E.ON believe that heat networks will play a vital role in supporting carbon reduction, not only in the UK, but worldwide. Current figures show heat networks provide approximately 2% of UK heating demand, but industry experts believe this will likely increase to 20% by 2050.

What lies at the core of heating networks is the development and planned strategies in urban areas. As cities continue to expand, further pressure is placed on the associated heating infrastructure and level of emissions. Heat networks are a vital part of energy provision in urban areas, places which consume over 60% of the world’s energy and release nearly 70% of the total global carbon emissions. By 2050, over 65% of our total global population is expected to be living in cities, this equates to an additional 2.5 billion people in urban areas. Recent studies in London have highlighted that the total heat generated from secondary sources exceeds the overall demand for heat in the city, indicating that an efficient heat capturing system could enable the city to become fossil-free neutral. At the moment, urban areas are wasting heating that could be utilized and could dramatically reduce our carbon emissions.

Heat networks operate in two ways:- via a centralized system with a single heat source connected to a heat pump that controls the temperature of the heat level and a decentralized system that utilizes a series of a smaller integrated network of boilers. Heat industry experts believe the UK will likely use a combination of both methods, depending on each individual scenario.

A possible scenario for heat networks that are being actively explored by utility companies in the development of a low-temperature network. This process enables users to use a lower grade heat, something that E.ON has been intended to develop through the implementation of their Ectogrid low-temperature network. The system would create a high-efficiency service via a decentralized energy system, allowing the building to pull and release in and out of the network. By using a low-temperature network, the heat can be reused, effectively recycling the heat and reusing it a number of times within an urban area.

Plans to increase the number of heat networks within the UK will be a positive move for the manufacturing market. Much of today’s infrastructure, for energy hubs and plants connected to the network, are acquired from larger, more established heating markets elsewhere in Europe. A rise of district heating networks in the UK will generate a larger market for additional products, heating, and control systems.

Whilst still in its infancy, there are positive moves to indicate the UK is taking heating networks, and the associated emissions created from this sector more seriously. The Heat Networks Investment Project has delivered a path to market for new innovative projects within the UK and forms a vital section of the Clean Growth Strategy.

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