What a citywide heat network could mean for Bristol
Bristol City Leap’s ambitions to provide low carbon heating for those that live, work and learn in the city
Homes and businesses across Bristol city could soon be kept warm with a low carbon heat source thanks to an ambitious heat network being built by Vattenfall Heat UK, as part of the Bristol City Leap partnership.
Bristol City Leap has been set up as a long-term, 20-year partnership between Bristol City Council and Ameresco UK, with Vattenfall Heat UK as an essential subcontractor responsible for the heat network.
The aim of the partnership is to accelerate energy investment in Bristol and help towards decarbonising the whole city.
Bristol was the first city in the UK to declare a climate emergency in 2019 and Bristol City Leap is expecting to deliver nearly £1 billion of investment into the local energy system.
One of the projects at the forefront of the energy transition for Bristol has been the development and expansion of a low carbon heat network which currently provides heating to the equivalent of 13,376 homes and, by 2050, will supply heat to more than 50 per cent of Bristolians.
As a project, the heat network development is led by Vattenfall, one of Europe’s largest generators and retailers for energy and heating.
Andrew Foulkes, Vattenfall account director, said: “In Bristol, instead of using gas as the primary heat-generating asset, we take advantage of ambient heat in the environment, whether it be water or air, they’re all sources where there’s heat in the environment that can be taken advantage of.
“We are trying to explore and hook into as many of those heat sources as possible.”
Team Salix was recently in Bristol to speak with key stakeholders from Vattenfall and Bristol City Leap and hear more about the energy centres powering the sections of the heat network that are already operational and the organisation’s ambitions to scale up considerably over the next five years.
Andrew added: “I do this job because I realise what the heat network means for the city and I just think, if anything, I want more people to understand that too.”
I do this job because I realise what the heat network means for the city and I just think, if anything, I want more people to understand that too.
Watch our interview with programme manager Becca Weight to hear more about the visit, the city’s ambitions for expanding its heat network and the connections at Temple Fire Station and the Central Health Clinic that were funded through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme Phase 1.
