Almost £2.4 million (US$3.8 million) in funding is to be offered to 32 local authorities across England and Wales to support the development of heat network projects through the UK government’s Heat Networks Delivery Unit (HNDU).
In addition, a £7 million scheme offering developers across the UK the opportunity to compete for funding to develop new heat networks technologies has been launched by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).
The scheme will support technologies such as the recovery of industrial heat or energy from waste.
Energy secretary Ed Davey (pictured) said: ‘Recovering wasted heat from industrial plants or landfill sites means we can heat our homes and businesses more efficiently, as well as helping to drive down energy bills. Improving the way we heat our buildings and helping local authorities fund innovative and more efficient ways of supplying lower carbon heat will also reduce our dependency on costly, imported gas.’
The 32 local authorities are the third group of bidders to be announced under the government scheme. Successful local authorities will be offered grants ranging from £10,000 to £250,000 to kick-start heat network projects. The HNDU may also provide other types of support. A fourth round of HNDU funding will open to local authorities in England and Wales on 16 October.
Source: COSPP