Leeds City Council to extend the PIPES heat network

We recently reported on the £57 million made available by the Government’s Green Heat Network Fund to connect homes, businesses and public buildings to sustainable heat sources in London, Bradford and Leeds.

A large proportion of that – £24.5m – was awarded to Leeds City Council to extend their PIPES network and they have today published more details of how the money will be spent.

The PIPES low-carbon heat network is heated through the incineration of non-recyclable waste to create steam, which is piped to a nearby energy centre, where it is converted into hot water.

The water is pumped through a network of insulated underground pipes, passing through a second energy centre where it heats back-up boilers, ready to provide extra heat as and when it is needed. Hot water finally arrives in connected buildings before being  pumped back to the energy centre to be re-heated and used again.

Last year, the network saved 5,945 tonnes of carbon and it has continued to expand this year, with connections completed at Leeds Conservatoire and the former Technology Campus Student Residential development.

The new funding will allow a further expansion, taking in around 28 buildings, with up to 8,000 residents and mixed-use customers benefitting from connections, making it the most significant expansion of the project since its inception.

Councillor Mohammed Rafique, Leeds City Council’s executive member for climate, energy, environment and green space and Councillor Jessica Lennox, executive member for housing, said: ‘We are both pleased that many more residents will soon be paying significantly less to heat their homes thanks to this latest expansion of the Leeds PIPES network.

‘UK’s homes are some of the least efficient and most reliant on costly fossil fuel gas in Europe, and too many families in our city struggle to pay their energy bills. We are committed to helping households by making our homes greener and fit for the future.

‘Leeds is working towards becoming the first net zero city in the UK, and connecting more homes to affordable low carbon heating like Leeds PIPES is a step in the right direction.’