Heat network to set bar for decarbonising heat

The Leeds-registered heat network developer is creating the system with support from anchor customers Bradford University, Bradford College, and Bradford Courts. The latest investment includes £20m of investment from the government’s Green Heat Network Fund. 

A heat network supplies heat from a central source (or several sources) to buildings via underground, water-filled pipes, which removes the need for gas boilers in buildings. According to 1Energy, heat networks can use a wide-range of heat sources, and can change sources over time.

Pivotal to the Bradford development is an 8MW air source heat pump manufactured by Fenagy and supplied by Pure Renewables, who have also led on the system design.

Marissa Granath, Project Director for the Bradford Energy Network said the footprint of the heat pump installation, including pumps and compressors, will be around 400m².

Over the next two years, 1Energy will build and commission the energy centre, which will contain the heat generation plant required to meet the company’s customers' heating demands

“We will also be completing the build of the underground heat network pipes that will carry heat from the energy centre to our customers’ buildings,” said Granath. “We will be installing heat substations in customers’ plant rooms, which act as the interface between the main heat network and the customers' heating systems.”

Granath continued: “We will work closely with Bradford Council [highways team] and our customers to ensure a smooth, non-disruptive construction phase and switch over from their existing gas boilers to our low carbon heat supply.”

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When the network first becomes operational, gas boilers will accompany the heat pump, providing additional heat on the coldest days of the year and acting as back-up and resilience. As part of a commitment to make the Network net zero carbon by 2030, the boiler heat will be replaced by alternative low-carbon heat within four years.

“We are exploring a number of solutions, for example waste heat offtake from various sources, and expanding thermal storage on site,” said Granath. “The decision will be guided by what emerges as the most deliverable and commercially viable option – we want to keep the cost of heat as low as possible for our customers.”

A 2018 government report titled Clean Growth - Transforming Heating stated that emissions from heat are the single biggest contributor to UK CO2e emissions at 37 per cent. From this total, 14 per cent came from industrial processes, 17 per cent from heating and cooling, four per cent from hot water, and two per cent from cooking.

The Bradford Energy Network is projected to deliver a 75 per cent  reduction in SOx and NOx emissions during the first phase of the project to 2030, with aims to further reduce emissions afterwards.

To date, 1Energy has delivered over 50 heat networks in the UK over the past 15 years. As well as Bradford, similar projects are planned in Exeter and Milton Keynes, which are in development and planning respectively.

Granath added that there are common challenges across all heat networks, but different locations present different challenges.

“For example, the deployment of the underground buried network in Bradford has been challenging from the perspective of building a heat network within a busy and constrained city centre but made more straightforward by the fact that we don't have any significant road or river crossings,” she said. “As our first project, the Bradford Energy Network has provided a learning opportunity, and our priority is to ensure these learnings are captured and implemented in future projects.”