The event was opened by HNIC Chair and CEO of Siemens Engines, Dan McGrail, who introduced the HNIC ask and offer to government. The Council can take a lead role in creating green jobs, accelerating decarbonisation and delivering a high quality customer experinece through the creation of smart, livable cities. In return, the group will work with government to develop suportive regulatory and policy frameworks to support the growth of heat networks in the UK.Dan McGrail said:The heat networks industry can play a big role in helping the UK reach our net-zero carbon targets. The pandemic has caused a difficult economic situation but, today, our industry is setting out our shared ambition to create investment and jobs, accelerate carbon reduction, deliver consistent and excellent customer experiences and ultimately create smarter, more liveable cities across the country.The event then moved into a panel discussion, chaired by Ryan Heath, Senior Editor at Politico, with contributions from: Polly Billington, Director of UK 100 Caroline Bragg, Head of Policy, ADE Doug Parr, Chief Policy Advisor, Greenpeace UK Dan McGrail, HNIC Chair & CEO Siemens Engines Lord Duncan of SpringbankParticipants were then addressed by HNIC member and Managing Director of SSE Enterprise, Nathan Sanders, who also kindly sponsored the event.We were then joined by BEIS Energy and Clean Growth Minster, Kwasi Kwarteng MP, who spoke on the importance of the heat networks sector in decarbonising energy and providing users with low carbon, low cost heat:The government’s £270m Green Heat Networks Fund underlines our support for the industry, and we back the new Heat Networks Industry Council to deliver on its ambitions for investment and job creation as part of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.The Minister took questions from Charlotte Owen (Policy Manger, ADE), Kirsty Lambert (Business Development Director, Switch2 Energy) and Lucy Padfield (Director at Ramboll and ADE Chair).The Heat Networks Industry Council (HNIC) comprises of heat network operators and energy firms that delivers heat to almost 500,000 UK customers as an alternative from gas-boiler heating. Further resources regarding the HNIC vision, signatories and news can be found on the new HNIC Website: www.hnic.ukThe ADE would like to extend our sincere thanks to the fantastic speakers, event sponsor SSE, and Minister Kwarteng for helping to make the launch a success.The event recording can be viewed here. Password: 0z&V4M6A
