Heating network is backed by funding
PLANS for a new carbon emission-reducing, energy efficient district heating network have been unveiled which developers say will support efforts to tackle climate change by cutting emissions from a new housing development by up to 70%.
The initiative is being backed by Teignbridge District Council, Exeter City Council and Devon County Council with funding of up to a £7.3 million contribution to the £23 million capital investment project. So confident are the councils in the future benefits of the scheme that an advance payment of £50,000 will be made available for preliminary infrastructure works to take place.
Analysis has suggested that the new heat network will reduce carbon emissions from new homes planned by up to 70% compared with natural gas-fired boiler alternatives, delivering carbon savings of at least 2,500 tonnes per annum via a long-term heat supply.
The new heat network will support the current Local Plan’s mixed-use development at South West Exeter which, with Teignbridge Council and Exeter City Council’s planned housing developments, will see up to 2,500 new homes in the area plus a new school campus, shops and community facilities.
The network will be provided with heat from the nearby Viridor Exeter Energy Recovery Facility (ERF), located in Marsh Barton. The ERF puts waste which cannot be recycled to work to generate heat and power. The export of heat from the ERF is around five times more energy efficient than the generation of electricity at the plant and it would mean that, for example, gas boilers would not be needed in homes within the South West Exeter development area.
With the Government stopping the use of fossil fuel heating systems in new homes in the ‘shortest possible timeline’, the network heating solution will provide home owners with not only an environmentally friendly alternative but also a cost-effective one.
Officers from Exeter City, Devon County Council and Teignbridge Council have been working with advisers from the University of Exeter and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to bring the project forward. Multi-utility network and operator, Leep Utilities, will operate the network as the Energy Services Company (ES Co).
Teignbridge Council leader Alan Connett said: “This is an innovative way of helping future home owners. It is an example of how we as a council can work with neighbouring authorities and developers to implement solutions which improve housing while tackling environmental concerns.
“Until contracts are signed, we can’t guarantee that the scheme will go ahead, but everyone is committed to overcoming the outstanding issues and pushing forward with this innovative approach”.
Councillor Rachel Sutton, Exeter City Council’s deputy leader, said she welcomed the initiative: “Coming up with better ways to heat our homes is vital if we are to reduce our carbon footprint,” she said. “Using heat from the Energy from Waste plant is both sensible and efficient.”