Welcome for Government help programme

The fund which is targeted at Local Authorities will be managed by the new Heat Networks Unit within DECC. The fund will help Local Authorities develop expected to leverage further financial support and 67 per cent of the cost of hiring consultants to draw up technical assessments and financial evaluations, withthe applicant contributing the remaining 33 per cent.

Bidding for the grant funding started on September 20 and will continue for 18 months through a series of six bidding rounds, with bids assessed on their potential for further commercial development and potential contribution to carbon reduction.

The ukDEA believes that targeting local authorities provides a step in the right direction as local authorities can provide the essential project leadership and political will required to develop heat networks. The ukDEA is pleased that Government is not being prescriptive on the consultants that can be engaged but it is important that the councils receiving these funds ensure the work is being undertaken by genuine experts with relevant experience, otherwise they run the risk of receiving poor advice.

The ukDEA also hopes that the new fund will help local authorities address the important issue of fuel poverty particularly within the social housing sector under Local Authority control. Fuel poverty remains one of the key issues that the new Heat Networks Delivery Unit aims to help address and it is fitting that funds be directed at Local Authorities as a start.

ukDEA chairman Simon Woodward, commented: “This latest initiative by Government signals its continued will and commitment to the development of low carbon heat networks and is in line with the Government’s objective of decarbonising the nation’s heat as stated in DECC’s Heat Strategy. One of the biggest barriers to district energy in the UK is the high cost of installing the networks and we would have preferred to see some capital funding support to address this. The Government can still do more to address the issue of the crippling cost of gettingnetworks installed.”