Commercial heating
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District heating and the power of the HIU
Charlie Mowbray, commercial product manager, Groupe Atlantic UK, ROI & NA, explores the role of heat networks and the role they can play on the pathway to Net Zero
D
ecarbonising heating and hot water in buildings is an existential challenge for our industry, but one solution that is set for a resurgence is district heating, or heat networks, thanks to the energy efficiencies that can be
achieved and the scalability on offer. Around 500,000 UK properties are currently connected to district heating networks but the government’s Clean Growth Strategy predicts this could rise to more than five million by 2050. To help make this happen, £288 million has been committed to support the development of new heat networks through the Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF), which is open to the public, private and third sector and runs until 2025.
But what is district heating and how does it work?
A district heating system delivers thermal energy in the form of hot water from a central source to end users using a network of insulated pipes. This network could be designed to serve a single block of flats or an entire city. Every district heating system has three main elements: 1. The energy centre sits at the heart of a heat network, heating the hot water that is distributed around the system. Although energy centres can use almost any heat source, to take advantage of the GHNF low carbon heat sources must be used. 2. The energy centre connects to the distribution network, the insulated pipes that deliver hot water to end users. 3. Each end user then has a Heat Interface Unit (HIU), like the Ideal Heating POD, which transfers heat from the distribution network to the end user’s heating system or is used to generate instantaneous hot water. The HIU looks just like a domestic combi boiler from the outside and has similar controls, but instead of burning gas it uses heat exchangers to transfer thermal energy from the hot water in the distribution network to the water in the property’s heating and hot water systems.
Veolia reports that the District Energy heat network that it operates in
Sheffield cuts carbon emissions by more than half, and analysis by Devon County Council suggests that a plan to power a new development of 2,500 homes using district heating will reduce carbon emissions by up to 70 per cent.
26 November 2022
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