The University has been awarded a £100,000 grant from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The grant comes from BEIS’ Green Heat Network Fund (GNHF) and will be fund matched by the University. The GNHF aims to transform UK heating by switching existing heat networks to low carbon fuel sources.
This grant will enable us to commission design work to assist with the decarbonisation of the heating systems at Whiteknights campus. Specifically this will focus on plans to install a large heat pump into our energy centre. The energy centre currently provides heating to 16 buildings on the Whiteknights campus, which utilise a 3.3km underground district heating network. The heat pump could provide up to 40% of the energy centre’s yearly heat output. This represents a cumulative cutting of 12,000 tonnes of CO2 by 2030. The energy centre opened in 2015 and from the outset, space was allocated to allow for the later installation of low carbon technology.
This work will be complemented by further initiatives to reduce heating demand throughout the campus – such as further insulation and control system improvements. Reducing demand and decarbonising our heating systems are critical to ensuring we reach our goal to be net zero carbon by 2030.
