HEATING, VENTILATION & AIR CONDITIONING
Shaping the future with heat networks Heat networks are a proven
and cost-effective method of reducing the carbon intensity of heating in UK buildings in high heat density areas.
Remeha E-HP AW Air Source Heat Pumps H
eat networks, along with heat pumps, hydrogen technology and hybrid systems, have been
identified by the Government’s Energy Security Bill as the technologies that will be rolled out across the UK to achieve its Net Zero ambition. Heat network systems take heat from a
centralised heat source and distribute it throughout the network to end users. According to the latest figures, there are around 14,000 heat networks supplying heating and hot water to approximately half a million homes in the UK. Some 85% of these are communal heat networks, where the supply of heat is contained within the same building or complex where it is used. The Government has set a target
for 18% of the UK’s heat to come from heat networks by 2050. They currently provide about 2-3%. One way in which it aims to achieve this is by developing heat networks in zones where they provide the lowest cost and most effective method for supplying and decarbonising heat. This could lead to new greenbelt developments in areas where there is an abundance of cheap sustainable energy. That said, most heat networks will be focused in the areas where there are existing high heat demands. What are the implications for
buildings in a designated heat network zone? Bar some exemptions, once the district heating scheme is up and running, most buildings – whether currently heated by traditional boiler plant or through communal heat networks – will be required to connect.
HEAT SOURCE The heat source for these zones might be a facility that provides a dedicated supply to the heat network, such as heat pumps, a hydrogen- fed combined heat and power plant or boiler plant, or a hybrid system with a combination of different low/zero carbon technologies. On
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a larger scale, it could even be otherwise inaccessible heat recovered from industry and urban infrastructure, heat generated through incineration plants, or natural heat sources such as canals, rivers, lakes or the sea. Old, flooded coal mines, now full of water at different depths, are also being sighted as another sustainable source of heat. The deeper mines can be as hot as >50˚C, whereas the ones closer to the surface are
Ian Robinson, Baxi’s technical manager – Multi-Occupancy and Heat Network Solutions, discusses the latest advances and how they could shape the future of heat in the decades to come
more and more users connect on to them. Further, as well as interconnecting networks as they expand, energy could flow both ways as systems with energy that would normally go to waste can export it onto the network. In other words, heat networks become the
thermal rails, connecting different users, and providing systems with surplus heat somewhere to export it. This could be waste heat from industrial processes or data centres or surplus heat from microgeneration systems.
TOKENISING AND TRADING ENERGY This then opens the door for future possibilities to tokenise and trade this energy in the form of exergy tokens and tokenised carbon credits monitored by energy metering devices. Taking this to the next step, such heat networks could enable those with excess electrical energy to convert it into thermal energy using heat pumps and trade it should the price/demand of thermal energy be higher than that of electricity at the time. This approach would
Heat network substation
around 10˚C. This offers opportunities of natural heating and cooling or a good source for water- to-water heat pumps.
TWO-WAY ENERGY FLOW But this is just the beginning. Typically, with current heat networks, energy flows in one direction and is kept within one network. This is set to change. As networks expand, they will link to one
another directly, if temperature and pressure regimes permit, or indirectly if not. Consequently, as the networks grow and merge with one another, they will become far more valuable as
ENERGY & SUSTAINABILITY SOLUTIONS - Summer 2023
challenge the way we view our heat networks and those that operate them –
but it could also provide
an opportunity to address fuel poverty through the sale of this energy at a discounted rate to those most in need. Of course, this is just one vision. However, it
shows that there is greater potential value to be unlocked from heat networks if we choose to look at them differently. In a win-win scenario, heat networks could deliver greater benefits for all those linked to the networks at the same time as we achieve our Net Zero targets.
Baxi
www.baxi.co.uk/about-us/the-future-of-heat
www.essmag.co.uk
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