Testing begins for heat network innovation projects

The developers of nine innovation projects have begun testing their technology to improve the performance of heat networks and encourage greater uptake of renewable heat sources.

The projects include the use of smart systems to diagnose performance issues and heat recovered from data centres and canals, and will be tested until March 2016.

Project COHEAT has received £350,000 to fit a network of insulated pipes with a central energy centre, suitable for groups of 20 to 250 houses regardless of how they are currently heated. The solution claims to reduce the total costs of heating by 50 per cent.

Guru Systems received £570,000 to develop smart payment and energy-efficiency technologies which allow homeowners to monitor the cost and quantity of energy used on a particular day.

The other successful applicants are Clean Energy Prospector (which received £690,000), Eon Sustainable Energy (£1,400,000), Geothermal Engineering (£860,000), Star Renewables (£999,000), PassivSystems (£600,000), Sycous (£120,000) and Zero Carbon Future (£380,000).

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) announced the 17 winning entries earlier this year, as part of its Heat Network Small Business Research Initiative competition. The projects received £1 million funding to carry out feasibility studies, before nine of the best projects were chosen to bid for a share of £6 million to fully implement their plans.

Association for Decentralised Energy director Tim Rotheray said the funding was “exactly the kind of thing that we need”.

“By building a more local and efficient energy system we can deliver real benefits to energy consumers,” he added.

Heat networks supply heat generated at a central source to a number of buildings through a system of insulated pipes. Decc claims heat production at this communal, rather than individual scale, will help solve the energy trilemma as it is “more energy efficient, delivers carbon savings, and can reduce consumer bills”.