The Government has identified heat networks as a key technology to decarbonise heat and has allocated £320m of funding out to 2021 to grow the heat networks market. This funding is expected to draw in up to £2 billion of additional capital investment and lead to the construction of hundreds of heat networks in England and Wales. Scotland has an ambition to connect 40,000 homes to heat networks by 2020, serving 1.5TWh of  heat through heat networks.

This report highlights the opportunities offered by heat networks through developing a clearer picture of the market.

Information contained in this report is based on a survey carried out between January and November 2017 of heat networks in Great Britain. Information was collected from a wide range of organisations, including public and private actors, and the information covers about 160,000 domestic and commercial customers on 810 different networks. In light of the BEIS Regulatory data published in February 2017, the sample of networks on the ADE database represents one-third of the overall number of customers connected to heat networks in the UK. This report also builds on previous research on heat networks in the UK (i.e. Pöyry 2009, Databuild 2013 and AECOM 2015).