Green heat network expansion for Wales

The government has announced that its Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF) - which already supports heat networks in England - is being expanded to fund projects in Wales.

This will give Welsh consumers the opportunity to access clean, homegrown energy, thereby reducing reliance on costly fossil fuels following events in the Middle East.

Heat networks are a way of heating multiple buildings from a central heating source – such as heat pumps or excess heat generated from sewage systems, factories or data centres – to provide hot water and heating to homes and other buildings through insulated pipes. There are already more than 500,000 heat network customers across Britain. 

£195 million a year will be invested into heat network projects across England and Wales for the rest of the decade, with thousands of households benefitting from cleaner heating.

The expansion is also expected to support hundreds of clean energy jobs across Wales, with opportunities for engineers, architects and construction workers to work on the clean heating systems of the future. 

The move also builds on major government investments in innovative heat network projects in England. For example, a £15 million heat network in Sunderland which will recover energy from a data centre to heat buildings across the city, creating almost 300 jobs and apprenticeships. 

Minister for Energy Consumers Martin McCluskey said: "We are determined to fight people’s corner in this crisis, as we recognise cost-of-living concerns will be at the forefront of people’s minds. 

"Welsh households and businesses will be able to benefit from low-cost, low-carbon heat networks, protecting them from volatile fossil fuel prices we don’t control."