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Cash injection for Heat Network
Enfield Council has received £183,000 from the government to help drive forward the development of an innovative project to provide low carbon heating to homes across the Lee Valley.
The Lee Valley Heat Network, which was launched in July, aims to create an energy solution for the area through a system of pipes that moves heat in the form of hot water from where it is created, to where it is needed, in a similar way to an electricity network.
The money will be spent over the next year, as part of the final stage development costs. The Lee Valley Heat Network is due to supply its first heat to new homes at Ladderswood in autumn 2015, at Alma Road in autumn 2016 and the first stage of Meridian Water by autumn 2017.
Cllr Alan Sitkin, Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development, said “This money is going to give this hugely ambitious scheme a big boost. We want to provide heating to thousands of homes and businesses across the Lee Valley in the first phase of this project.
“For the first time, we will be supplying our communities with low carbon energy from local heat sources, while creating hundreds of jobs in the process, this will revolutionise the way we heat our homes and provide energy to business.
“We are also setting ourselves up as an ‘ethical operator’ in what is currently an unregulated heat market, helping protect local consumers by ensuring a fair price for their heat. We look forward to working with other authorities to roll out this exciting model across the capital in years to come.”
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey said: “Recovering wasted heat from industrial plants or landfill sites means we can heat our homes and businesses more efficiently, as well as helping to drive down energy bills.
“Improving the way we heat our buildings and helping local authorities fund innovative and more efficient ways of supplying lower carbon heat will also reduce our dependency on costly, imported gas.”
The first phase of the Lee Valley Heat Network – a city-scale scheme – will focus on Enfield Council’s flagship £1.5 billion Meridian Water development. North London Waste Authority’s Energy-from-Waste facility at the nearby Edmonton EcoPark has the capacity to supply low carbon heat to 5,000 new homes at Meridian Water and businesses in the Lee Valley. A further 1,800 homes on the Ladderswood, Alma and New Avenue estates could also benefit.
The Lee Valley Heat Network will reduce the carbon footprint of homes heated by the network by an estimated 50 per cent compared with conventional fuels.
The heat network complements Enfield Council’s work to bring enhanced transport infrastructure to the area too, with improved rail and cycling facilities in the borough.
Network Rail and The Greater London Authority have identified £80 million to deliver three-tracking of the railway which runs throughout the Lee Valley, which will enable a four trains per hour train service at Angel Road Station (soon to be renamed Meridian Water Station) from 2017, along with improvements to the station itself.
Enfield Council has also successfully bid for £30 million of funding from the Mayor of London Office to significantly improve cycling facilities in the borough. ffice to significantly improve cycling facilities in the borough.