• REA welcome £270m Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF) capital grant programme;
• REA fought hard for biomass and biogas to be in the scope of project and is delighted to see them included;
• To achieve wider heat sector decarbonisation, the REA say there is an urgent need for a long-term replacement to the RHI.

The Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA) have today [07 September] welcomed a new round of heat network funding in England.

The new £270 million GHNF, announced by the government today, will only support low-carbon technologies like heat pumps, solar and geothermal energy in the roll out of the next generation of heat networks.

Heat networks supply heat to buildings from a central source, avoiding the need for households and workplaces to have individual, energy-intensive heating solutions – such as gas boilers. At present, there are over 14,000 heat networks in the UK, providing heating and hot water to around 480,000 consumers.

Heat networks have the potential to be a cost-effective way of reducing carbon emissions from heating. They are the only way that larger-scale renewable and recovered heat sources can be utilised.

Frank Gordon, Director of Policy at the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA), said:

“REA welcome the Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF) capital grant programme, opening for applications in April 2022. Heat is a hard to decarbonise sector and much more Government attention is need in order to decarbonise.

“The REA fought hard for biomass and biogas to be within scope of the project, and we are delighted to see these efforts be successful and enable these vital technologies to play their part in reaching Net Zero.

“In terms of wider heat sector decarbonisation, the REA’s Strategy, published this year, outlines the urgent need for a long-term replacement to the RHI, or another renewable heat deployment support programme to rapidly grow renewable heat supplies.”