1Energy, a private-equity backed developer of city heat networks, has secured £75m of investment and three anchor customers for its air source heat pump-powered network in Bradford.
The funding includes £20m from the UK government’s green heat network fund.
The Bradford Energy Network is supported by three key customers – the University of Bradford, Bradford College and Bradford Courts, which have all agreed to having their gas boilers stripped out.
Using Bradford as a blueprint, 1Energy has ambitions to deploy £1bn within the next eight years into building new city-wide, low-carbon heat networks across the UK. Next in line are Rotherham, Exeter and Milton Keynes.
1Energy claims that its model provides “the lowest cost, simplest and fastest route to decarbonising heat at scale”. This will be primarily funded by investment from UK and global institutional investors through Asper Investment Management’s dedicated fund, which supports the development, construction and operation of 1Energy’s heat networks.
The Bradford Energy Network is projected to reduce the carbon emissions from heating connected buildings by 80% during its first phase, supporting the council’s city-wide net zero targets.
While heat pumps for individual buildings can play a role in decarbonisation, they cannot be scaled rapidly or economically enough to support a rapid, low-cost city-wide decarbonisation of heat, heat network advocates assert. Connecting to a heat network is much cheaper, they say.
To date, most private heat network developers have focused on new buildings rather than retrofit measures. 1Energy is focused on existing buildings.
Co-founder and chief executive Andrew Wettern said: “We cannot reach net zero without decarbonising heat. We are proud to be delivering a city-wide solution to this challenge for Bradford alongside the University of Bradford, Bradford College, and Bradford Courts.”
“The Bradford Energy Network is a flagship project in the UK’s transition to low carbon heating. Crucially, it also provides a blueprint for national rollout, successfully demonstrating how to: deploy institutional investment alongside government funding, deliver savings for customers in the transition, and decarbonise existing and new buildings across a city through an exemplar low carbon heat network.”
“The project is already delivering significant social value and wider benefits to the city – creating new jobs and skills, utilising the local supply-chain and creating a more favourable environment for inward investment into Bradford. Thanks to the support of our key partners, we are able to put Bradford right at the very forefront of decarbonised, healthier cities in the UK and to assist its regeneration and growth.”
