£320 million is to be pumped into the UK’s heat network schemes over the next five year period in order to supply homes and businesses with low carbon heat.

Currently, the government is consulting on the best ways to deploy the £320 million fund which was allocated to heat network investment in the Spending Review.

Labelled as ‘central heating for cities’, heat networks are already being used throughout cities in Scandinavia to heat homes in winter.

The government believes that heat networks could reduce heating costs by over 30% in some households, with the investment being dubbed as “exciting news for towns and cities throughout the country” by the Department for Energy & Climate Change (DECC).

Instead of each building having individual heaters, a heat network will comprise of one big central heat source (or more than one central source) of which heat is then piped into several buildings.

A number of sources can take the heat such as large heat pumps, combines with power and heat plants and geothermal plants, which take heat from underground rocks miles below the earth’s surface. Then, it is pumped around businesses and homes, which will potentially bring down energy bill costs while also helping to cut carbon emissions.

DECC thinks that the heat produced by waste incinerator plants can also be used in this way and distributed to nearby businesses and homes.

Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Amber Rudd MP, said that this is a crucial next step in the development of more home grown energy, which is a key part of the government’s plan to ensure affordable energy and long term security for the country’s business and families.

She added that the funding under consultation at the moment will allow these schemes to provide thousands of businesses and homes throughout the country with affordable low carbon energy.