Manchester has been selected as one of nine local authorities across England have been awarded funding totalling £24 million for efficient heating projects.
The funding comes from a £320 million pot for heat networks, dubbed ‘central heating for cities’ and have the potential to cut heating costs, in some cases by more than 30%.
These district heating networks remove the need for individual properties to have their own boilers by linking them to a single heat source.
Two schemes in Manchester have been selected, the Civic Quarter Heat Network to help power the Town Hall amongst others and the St John’s Heat Network, a power plant for the new St John’s development at Quay Street.
Announcing the awards, Climate Change and Industry Minister Nick Hurd said:
“Energy innovations like heat networks can cut costs for households and reduce carbon emissions as almost half of the energy we use goes towards heating our homes and buildings.
“The £24 million in government funding awarded to these projects will help deliver low carbon energy at competitive prices for local consumers.”
The scheme will run for five years and is expected to enable up to 200 heat networks to be built, while leveraging around £2 billion of wider public and private investment.
