UK confirms delivery partner for £288m green heating fund

Triple Point Heat Networks Investment Management (TP Heat Networks) has been confirmed a delivery partner for the UK’s Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF), which aims to decarbonise the UK’s heating and cooling networks.

It follows the company’s successful implementation of the UK Government’s Heat Networks Investment Project (HNIP) over the past four years.

Net-zero transition

Triple Point was first appointed in 2018 as the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) delivery partner for HNIP. Having already awarded over £250m under that programme to projects across England and Wales, it will continue partnering with BEIS to help bring about the transition to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The £288m capital fund will enable both new and existing heat networks in England to decarbonise by transitioning to low-carbon technologies, including heat pumps, waste heat from industrial processes, and energy from geothermal sources.

It reports that throughout the four years of HNIP, there has been a material shift in the market and improved engagement with a wider audience than previously. It cites the mine water schemes HNIP has enabled – disused mine workings are now delivering affordable heat to the homes of families that had suffered hardships when the mines had closed – are just one example of the type of project that has excited and engaged the community, industry, finance and political stakeholders.

“Heat networks are complex infrastructure projects but the team has demonstrated an ability to inject real immediacy into their development and will continue to do so”

Earlier this year, four heat network schemes were awarded funding through HNIP. The cities of Bristol and Liverpool, the West Sussex town of Worthing and the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea will each utilise heat pump technology to provide low carbon heat to homes and buildings.

The Green Heat Network Fund will build on this existing progress, and will be open to public, private and third sector applicants in England from March 2022, running until at least 2025.

TP Heat Networks has worked closely with HNIP applicants over the last three years, building relationships with the project teams, supporting applicants and expanding the pipeline of opportunities that will prove valuable in the delivery of GHNF. Current estimates of the heat networks pipeline in England and Wales puts it at over £1.5bn: more than double its value in 2018.