- Households and businesses in Wales to save money on bills by
moving to low-carbon heat networks
- Welsh billpayers to be protected from fossil fuel price rises
with cleaner heating
- Hundreds of clean energy jobs set to be created across Wales,
with opportunities for engineers, architects and construction
workers
Households and businesses in Wales will benefit from government
funding for low-cost, low carbon heat networks.
The Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF) - which already supports
heat networks in England - is today (Tuesday 7 April) being
expanded to fund projects in Wales, giving Welsh consumers the
opportunity to access clean, homegrown energy, thereby reducing
reliance on costly fossil fuels.
This follows events in the Middle East, which have served as
another reminder of the importance of the government's drive for
clean, homegrown power – with heat networks playing an important
part in that mission.
This will see £195 million a year invested into heat network
projects across England and Wales for the rest of the decade,
with thousands of households benefitting from cleaner heating.
The expansion is also expected to support hundreds of clean
energy jobs across Wales, with opportunities for engineers,
architects and construction workers to work on the clean heating
systems of the future.
The move also builds on major government investments in
innovative heat network projects in England. For example, a £15
million heat network in Sunderland which will recover energy from
a data centre to heat buildings across the city, creating almost
300 jobs and apprenticeships.
Minister for Energy Consumers said
We are determined to fight people's corner in this crisis, as we
recognise cost-of-living concerns will be at the forefront of
people's minds.
Welsh households and businesses will be able to benefit from
low-cost, low-carbon heat networks, protecting them from volatile
fossil fuel prices we don't control.
Secretary of State for Wales said:
The expansion of UK government funding of low-cost heat networks
to Wales is good news for billpayers and is just one of a range
of measures we are taking to tackle the cost of living.
We are lowering energy bills by up to £117 for households as well
as reducing our reliance on imported fossil fuel to bring down
bills and put more money into people's pockets.
Wales will also benefit from the new jobs that will be created in
our growing green energy sector.
The Welsh Government's Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and
Planning, said:
As recent events have shown, it is vital that we reduce our
reliance on fossil fuels and find new ways to heat our homes and
buildings in a way which supports energy security and
resilience.
I'm pleased that organisations in Wales will be able to access
this funding to support the development of heat networks -
ultimately benefiting from lower heating bills.
Heat networks are a way of heating multiple buildings from a
central heating source – such as heat pumps or excess heat
generated from sewage systems, factories or data centres – to
provide hot water and heating to homes and other buildings
through insulated pipes.
There are already more than 500,000 heat network customers across
Britain.
Earlier this year, greater consumer protections were introduced
to the market for the first time – bringing heat network
customers across England, Scotland and Wales closer in line with
people living on traditional gas and electricity connections,
with Ofgem installed as regulator.
Ofgem will have powers to act if a heat network operator puts up
prices unfairly, and if an operator delivers a poor level of
service, with compensation awarded to customers who suffer a
service outage through the Energy Ombudsman.
Aaron Gould, Interim CEO of ADE: Heat Networks
said:
There is enormous potential for heat networks to grow in Wales,
bringing low cost, low carbon heat, and jobs. Excellent work has
been done by the Welsh Government to map priority areas, and
align network plans with local ambitions. The government and
sector in Wales is ready for massive growth, and extending
GHNF to support
these communities is a key step to a cleaner future.
Notes to editors
The extension of the GHNF brings it into line with
the Heat Network Efficiency Scheme, which provides funding to
improve existing heat networks and is already available to Welsh
applicants.
