Let’s Talk Heat Network Solutions – Steve Hart

The UK has a legally binding commitment to 2050 net zero.

With no single solution to decarbonise heat, heat networks are recognised as an essential component in the UK’s future energy mix.

Heat networks are crucial for the UK to move away from natural gas towards sustainable energy sources and could account for up to 20% of the UK’s heat mix by 2050. An annual growth rate of approximately 35% is needed to increase from the current 2-3% contribution to this target figure.

What is a heat network?

‘Heat network’ is an umbrella term to describe a shared network that provides space heating and/or hot water to multiple buildings (district heating) or to multiple dwellings, often within a high-rise tower block (communal heating).

The source – or sources – of heat for these networks is a centralised energy centre that transfers the heat to users in entire commercial buildings or individual apartments through pre-insulated underground pipework. Avoiding the need for individual heat sources in each dwelling or building can reduce the carbon intensity en masse and improve energy security for occupants when new low carbon heat sources are deployed. 

Heat networks can be sub-classified as follows:

• District heating, where a central energy centre connects to multiple buildings
• Communal heating, where multiple dwellings within a single block are connected to a central energy source
• Campus heating, which refers to systems within universities, hospitals or military facilities where the owner and the connected buildings are the same entity, eliminating the commercial relationship between the operator and tenants.

Heat networks are technology agnostic but with an emphasis on air source heat pumps, possibly supported by gas boilers (natural gas today, biofuel in the future).