Vattenfall: London project shows potential for colossal heat networks

Vattenfall has unveiled plans to create a colossal heat network in East London that could eventually become the UK’s largest, serving the equivalent of 75,000 homes across four boroughs.

The network would initially be supplied with waste heat extracted from the Cory’s Riverside energy-from-waste plant in Belvedere and provide warmth to 10,500 new homes earmarked for construction nearby.

Adriana Rodriguez Cobas, regional director for the South at Vattenfall Heat UK, told Utility Week the Riverside plant will act as “anchor” for the network which could also be supplied by air, water and ground-source heat pumps as it expands.

Extending up to 30 kilometres across the boroughs of Greenwich, Bexley, Tower Hamlets and Newham, Cobas said it would not only be large for the UK but also compared to those in more developed markets in Europe. She noted that Vattenfall’s largest heat network in the Netherlands currently serves 35,000 homes in Amsterdam.

“Considering the stage where the UK is now in terms of penetration of heat networks, I would say it’s quite a stretch and this is exciting. This shows the potential for really going for larger scale networks rather than a patchwork of tiny networks which are less easy to optimise and less easy to decarbonise in the long run.”

Noah Nkonge, head of partnerships at Vattenfall Heat UK, told Utility Week that as well as offering economies of scale, larger networks can avoid the need to install gas boilers in multiple properties, saving space for developers and occupants: “That also allows you to change the technology over, so as we get technologies that are more efficient, more renewable and lower carbon, we can switch.”

He said its expansion may include the absorption of other networks and connection to existing homes: “The majority of buildings that exist today will still be here in 2050, so part of scaling up heat networks will inevitably involve connecting existing buildings.

“The new developments might be the anchor loads but the vision is actually to pick up existing customers as well, because if you don’t capture the existing customers, then we’re really going to struggle to hit our net-zero targets in the UK.”

The network could additionally serve commercial, retail, and industrial buildings.  Vattenfall will now work with Cory to submit an application for funding from the government’s £320 million Heat Network Investment Project.

Meanwhile, South Tyneside Council has announced plans to create a heat network in the town of Hebburn that that would supply warmth to buildings owned by the local authority and would be partly fed with geothermal energy extracted from flooded coal mines in the area.

The £7 million project is being developed in partnership with the Coal Authority and Durham University and has already received preliminary approval from the European Regional Development Fund for a £3.5 million grant.

Joan Atkinson, lead member for area management and community safety at South Tyneside Council, said: “This is a highly innovative scheme, which will be one of the first council minewater district heating systems in the UK.

“It is expected to deliver a reduction of 319 tonnes of carbon emissions a year, which will make it a key component in our drive to make the council carbon neutral by 2030.

“Cooled water will be returned to the mine workings and locally-generated electricity using solar panels and a combined heat and power unit will be used to help power it.

“It will also help us meet our obligations to upgrade the energy performance of fuel-poor homes as it will be used to heat one of the town’s residential high-rise blocks.”